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INQUIRY 

INTO THE 

CHARACTER AND TENDENCY 

OF THE 

AMERICAN COLONIZATION, 

AND 

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY 

SOCIETIES. 



BY WILLIAM JAY. 



Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely, according 
to my conscience, above all liberties."— Milton. 



NEW-YORK : 



PUBLISHED BY LEAVITT, LORD & CO, 

182 Broadway. 

BOSTON: CROCKER & BREWSTER, 

47 Washington-street. 

1835. 



'cJ- 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by 
William Jay, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern 
District of New- York. 



£3p 



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PREFACE. 



No allusion has been made, in the following pages, to certain 
popular objections to the Colonization Society ; nor have any 
cases of individual cruelty been cited, to illustrate the evils of 
slavery. It is proper, that the reasons for this departure from 
the ordinary mode of discussing these two subjects, should be 
given, that they may not be misunderstood. 

The objections I have omitted to notice, are, the mortality to 
which the emigrants are exposed, in consequence of the climate 
of Liberia ; the demoralizing traffick, which the colonists have 
carried on with the natives, in rum and military stores ; and 
the improvident application of the funds of the Society, which 
has rendered it bankrupt. 

These objections, serious as they are in themselves, are not 
inseparable from the system of Colonization. Another, and more 
salubrious site, may be selected ; the traffick complained of, may 
be discontinued, and the fiscal affairs of the Society, may hereaf- 
ter be managed with prudence and economy. But there are 
inherent evils in the system, and it is important that the public 
attention should not be diverted from these evils, by the contem- 
plation of others, which are only accidental. 

So, also, it is of great importance, that the sinfulness of sla- 
very, should not be merged in that of its unauthorized abuses. 
Many contend for the lawfulness of slavery, who readily admit 
the sinfulness of insulated cases of cruelty. It has, therefore, 
been my object to show, that, admitting the slaves to be treated 
as a prudent farmer treats his cattle — that they have enough to 



PREFACE 



eat— are sheltered from the inclemency of the weather, and are 
not subjected to a greater degree of severity than is necessary, 
to extort from them a due amount of labor— American slavery is, 
nevertheless, a heinous sin, and, like every other sin, ought to 
be immediately abandoned. 
• February, 1835. 



CONTENTS. 

PART I. 

AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 

Introduction 5 

Chapter I. 

Origin, Constitution, and Character of the American Colonization 
Society 9 

Chapter II. 
Influence of the Society on the condition of Free Persons of Color. . . 15 

Chapter III. 
Influence of the Society'on Africa— Suppression of the Slave Trade.. 53 

Chapter IV. 

Influence of the Society on Africa— Diffusion of Civilization and 
Christianity 59 

Chapter V. 
Influence of the Society on Slavery 69 



PART II. 

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 

Chapter I. 
Principles of the Society— Character of American Slavery 121 

Chapter II. 
Proposed Objects and Measures of the Society— Censure of Aboli- 
tionists 135 

Chapter III. 
Fanaticism of Abolitionists 140 

Chapter IV. 

Incendiarism and Treason of Abolitionists 144 

1* 



4 CONTENTS. 

Chapter V. 
Slavery under the authority of Congress 149 

Chapter VI. 
Slavery under State authority 157 

Chapter VII. 
Safety of Immediate Emancipation 163 

Chapter VIII. 

Emancipation in St. Domingo and Gaudaloupe, and present state 
of St. Domingo 166 

Chapter IX. 
Emancipation in the British West Indies 184 

Chapter X. 
Gradual and Immediate Emancipation, .v 188 



Chapter XL 
Danger of Continued Slavery 194 



PART I 

AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

On the 1st of January, 1835, there were in the United 
States, 2,245,144 slaves.* This number about equals the 
population of Holland, and exceeds that of Scotland, of 
the Danish Dominions, of the Swiss Confederation, and of 
various Republics in South America. These millions of 
human beings, are held as chattels by a people professing 
to acknowledge, that " all men are created equal, and 
endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which, are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness :" — they are, 
moreover, kept in ignorance, and compelled to live without 
God, and to die without hope, by a people professing to 
reverence the obligations of Christianity. 

But slavery has ceased in other countries, where it for- 
merly prevailed ; and may we not hope that it is gradually 
expiring in this 1 An answer may be found in the follow- 
ing statement of our slave population, at different periods : 

2,345,144 
165,350 

182,953 

109,631 
24,990 

Perhaps, however, the political evils of slavery may be 
gradually mitigated, and finally removed, by an increas- 

* According to the ratio of increase between 1820 and 1830. 



United States, 1790, 


697,697 


1835, 


Kentucky, do. 


12,430 


1830, 


Mississippi and ) 1Qnft 
Alabama, ) 1 ~ UU > 


3,489 


do. 


Louisiana, 1810, 


34,660 


do. 


Missouri, do. 


3,011 


do. 



13.4 per 


ct. 


Slave 


20.2 per ct. 


8.7 






22.1 


124. 






180.4 


66.8 






100.1 


25.6 






58.7 


104.3 






144.7 


59.5 






77.7 


19.6 






30.4 


104.3 






180. 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

ing preponderance in the white population. A compari- 
son of the census of 1830, with that of 1820, affords us the 
following ratio of increase in the free and slave population, 
for the intermediate ten years : 

N. Carolina, Free 

S. Carolina, 

Alabama, 

Mississippi, 

Louisiana, 

Missouri, 

Tennessee, 

Kentucky, 

Arkansas Territory, 

It is obvious, from these details, that, if the present sys- 
tem be continued, the time cannot be far distant, when the 
slaves will possess a frightful numerical superiority over 
their masters. Already do they bear to the whites, in the 
slave States and Territories, the proportion of 1, to 2.79, 
or more than one-third. In South-Carolina, and Louisi- 
ana, they are now a majority. 

But in our contemplation of slavery, the sufferings of 
the slaves claim our consideration, no less than the dangers 
to which the whites are exposed. The ordinary evils of 
slavery are in this country greatly aggravated, by a cruel 
and extensive slave trade. Various circumstances have 
of late years combined, to lessen the demand for slave labor 
in the more northern, and to increase it in the more south- 
ern and western portions of the slave region ; while the 
enlarged consumption of sugar and cotton is enhancing the 
market value of slaves. The most profitable employment 
of this species of labor, is unfortunately found in those 
States, which, from their recent settlement, possess im- 
mense tracts which are still to be brought into cultivation, 
and in which, consequently, there now is, and will long 
continue to be, an urgent demand for slaves. Hence has 
arisen a prodigious and annually increasing transportation 
of slaves to the south and west. 

There are no official data, from which the amount of 
this transportation can be ascertained ; but from facts th^t 
have transpired, and from estimates made at the Souths 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

there is reason to believe that it exceeds 30,000 a year ! 
One of the peculiar abominations of this trade is, that its 
victims are almost exclusively children and youths. In- 
stead of removing whole families and gangs of negroes, the 
dealers for the most part, according to their own advertise- 
ments, select individuals " of both sexes, from twelve to 
twenty-five years." 

He surely can have little claim to the character of a 
patriot, or a Christian, who does not desire, that his coun- 
try may be delivered from the sin and curse of slavery ; or 
who refuses even to consider the means proposed for effect- 
ing this great object. 

A powerful institution is now in operation, which pro- 
fesses to be, not merely a remedy for slavery, but the only 
remedy that can be devised. It appeals to religion and 
patriotism, for those pecuniary aids, which, it contends, are 
alone wanting, to enable it to transport our whole colored 
population to Africa, there to enjoy the freedom denied to 
them here ; and there to become the dispensers of religion, 
and the arts and sciences, to that benighted continent. 

If the claims of the American Colonization Society are 
founded in truth, they cannot be resisted without guilt. 
Very many, however, who are alike distinguished for 
piety and talents, instead of allowing these claims, strenu- 
ously maintain, that the practical tendency of the Society, 
is to perpetuate the evils it professes to remove ; and to 
extend to Africa, the vices, but not the blessings of civiliza- 
tion. These conflicting opinions, on a subject so momen- 
tous, demand a calm and patient investigation; since he 
who either supports or opposes the Colonization Society, 
without first ascertaining its true character, the results it 
has produced, and the influence it exerts, incurs the 
hazard, as far as his example and efforts extend, of in- 
creasing the wretchedness he would relieve; and of fasten- 
ing upon his country, the burden under which she is strug- 
gling. 

If, in a question, involving the temporal and eternal 
happiness of unborn millions, we could satisfy our con- 
sciences, by bowing to the authority of great names, we 
would still be painfully embarrassed in selecting those, to 
whose decision we would surrender our own judgments. 



o INTRODUCTION. 

The excellent of the earth, are to be found among the 
friends and enemies of this association; and if various 
ecclesiastical bodies in our own country, have recommended 
it to the patronage of their churches, it is regarded with 
abhorrence by almost the whole religious community of 
Great Britain ; and the last effort made by Wilberforce, 
in the great cause of negro liberty, was, to enter his solemn 
protest against the doctrines and conduct of the American 
Colonization Society. 

This Institution may have been formed by good men, and 
from the purest motives, yet it is possible, that its operation 
may not have been such as they anticipated. " So many 
unforeseen, concealed, and inappreciable causes," says a 
very eminent writer, " have an influence on human insti- 
tutions, that it is impossible to judge a priori of their effects. 
Nothing but a long series of experiments, can unfold these 
effects, and point out the means of counteracting those that 
are hurtful." 

The following inquiry has been commenced, and 
pursued, under a deep sense of the importance of the sub- 
ject, and with a solemn recollection, that no deviation from 
truth, can escape the notice and displeasure of Him, unto 
whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are 
hid. 



CHAPTER I. 

Origin, Constitution and character of the American Colonization 
Society. 

On the 23d December, 1816, the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia passed a resolution requesting the Governor to 
correspond with the President of the United States, " for 
the purpose of obtaining a territory on the coast of Africa, 
or at some other place not within any of the States, or 
territorial governments of the United States, to serve as 
an asylum for such persons of color as are now free, and 
may desire the same, and for those who may hereafter be 
emancipated within this commonwealth." 

Within a few days of the date of this resolution, a 
meeting was held at Washington to take this very subject 
into consideration. It was composed almost entirely of 
southern gentlemen. Judge Washington presided; Mr. 
Clay, Mr. Randolph, and others took part in the discussions 
which ensued, and which resulted in the organization of 
the American Colonization Society. Judge Washington 
was chosen President, and of the seventeen Vice-Presi- 
dents, only five were selected from the free States, while 
the twelve managers were, it is believed, without one ex- 
ception, slave-holders. 

The two first articles of the constitution are the 
only ones relating to the object of the Society. They 
are as follows : 

Art. I. This Society shall be called the American 
Society for colonizing the free people of color of the 
United States. 

Art. II. The object to which its attention is to be exclu- 
sively directed, is to promote and execute a plan for coloni- 
zing (with their consent) the free people of color residing in 

2 



10 ABSENCE OF AVOWED MOTIVES. 

our country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall 
deem most expedient. And the Society shall act to effect 
this object in co-operation with the general government and 
such of the States as may adopt regulations on the subject. 

It is worthy of remark, that this constitution has no 
preamble setting forth the motives which led to its adoption, 
and the sentiments entertained by its authors. There is 
no one single principle of duty or policy recognized by the 
constitution, and the members may, without inconsistency, 
be composed of Christians or of Infidels : they may be the 
friends or enemies of slavery, and may be actuated by 
kindness or by hatred towards "the free people of color." 

The omission of all avowal of motives was, probably, 
not without design, and has not been without effect. It 
has secured the co-operation of three distinct classes. First, 
such as sincerely desire to afford the free blacks an asylum 
from the oppression they suffer here, and by their means to 
extend to Africa the blessings of Christianity and civili- 
zation, and who at the same time flatter themselves that colo- 
nization will have a salutary influence in accelerating the 
abolition of slavery : Secondly, such as expect to enhance 
the value and security of slave property, by removing the 
free blacks : And, thirdly, such as seek relief from a bad 
population, without the trouble and expense of improving it. 

The doors of the Society being thrown open to all, a 
heterogeneous multitude has entered, and within its portals 
men are brought into contact, who, in the ordinary walks 
of life, are separated by a common repulsion. The devoted 
missionary, ready to pour out his lite on the sands of 
Africa, is jostled by the trafficker in human flesh ; the 
humble, self-denying Christian listens to the praises of the 
Society from the unblushing profligate, and the friend of 
human rights and human happiness greets as his fellow- 
laborer the man whose very contribution to the cause is 
extorted from the unrequited labor of his fellow men. 
This anomalous amalgamation of characters and motives 
has necessarily led to a lamentable compromise of princi- 
ple. Whatever may be the object each member proposes 
to himself, he is conscious it can be effected only by 
the harmonious co-operation of all the other members. 
Hence it is all important to avoid giving and taking offence ; 



COMPROMISE OF PRINCIPLES. 11 

and never was the maxim, " bear and forbear," more scru- 
pulously obeyed. Certain irreconcileable opinions, but 
regarded by their holders as fundamental, are by common 
consent wholly suppressed, while in matters of less import- 
ance, the expression of opposite sentiments is freely allowed, 
and borne with commendable patience. 

The advocates of slavery forbear shocking its oppo- 
nents by justifying it in the abstract, and in return for this 
complaisance those opponents forbear condemning it in 
particulars. Each party consents to make certain con- 
cessions to conciliate the other. The Southron admits 
slavery to be a political evil ; the northern member cour- 
teously replies, that under present circumstances, it is una- 
voidable, and therefore justifiable. The actual condition of 
the slave, his mental bondage, his bodily sufferings are 
understood to be forbidden topics. 

The oppressor of the free negro dwells on his depravity 
and degradation : the friend of the free negro admits and 
often aggravates the charges against him, but carefully ab- 
stains from all allusion to the true causes of that depravity 
and degradation, unless to excuse them as being inevitable. 
Both parties unite in depicting in glowing colors, the effects 
of the oppression of the free negro in order to prove the hu- 
manity of banishing him from the country ; while both 
refrain from all attempts to remove or lessen the oppres- 
sion. 

The simplicity of the object of the Society as stated in 
its constitution, tends in a powerful degree to encourage 
and enforce this compromise of principle. The constitu- 
tion in fact vests a discretionary veto in every member on 
the expression of unpalatable opinions. The attention of 
the Society is to be " exclusively " directed to the coloni- 
zation of persons of color, and the constitution contains no 
allusion to slavery. Hence any denunciation of slavery as 
sinful,* any arguments addressed to slave holders to induce 

* Candor requires the admission that there is at least one exception 
to this remark. At the annual meeting of the Society in 1834, the Rev. 
Mr. Breckenridge in his speech insisted on the sinfulness of slavery. A 
distinguished lay member of the Society who was present complained 
to the author of Mr. B.'s unconstitutional conduct, and declared that he 
was strongly tempted publicly to call him to order. 



12 COMPROMISE OF PRINCIPLES. 

them to manumit their slaves, would be unconstitutional, 
and are therefore carefully avoided. But the free blacks 
cannot be transported without money, and much money 
cannot be had, without the aid of the enemies of slavery. 
It is therefore permitted to represent the Society as an an- 
tidote to slavery, as tending to affect its abolition, any thing 
in the constitution to the contrary notwithstanding. But 
then this abolition is to be brought about at some future 
indefinite period. True it is, that the constitution is as 
silent, with respect to manumission, as it is to slavery; but 
by common consent, this silence is not permitted to inter- 
pose the slightest obstacle to a unanimous, vigorous and 
persevering opposition to present manumission. Were the 
American Bible Society to deprecate the emancipation of 
slaves, and to censure all who proposed it, the outrage would 
excite the indignation of the whole community. But what 
would be a perversion of its avowed object in a Bible 
Society is perfectly lawful in the Colonization Society, not 
because it is authorized by the constitution, but because it 
is expedient to conciliate the slave holders. 

Many of the supporters of the Society are interested in 
the American slave trade* — a trade replete with cruelty 
and injustice. To condemn this trade, or to labor for its 
suppression, would be unconstitutional. The African slave 
trade rather interferes with, than promotes the interests of 
the slave owners, and the Society deem it unnecessary to 
seek for any constitutional warrant to justify the most vio- 
lent denunciation of the foreign traffick ; or an application 
to foreign powers to declare it piratical. t 

To hold up the free blacks to the detestation of the 
community, is constitutional — to recommend them to the 
sympathy of Christians, to propose schools for their in- 
struction, plans for encouraging their industry, and efforts 
for their moral and religious improvement, would be such a 
flagrant departure from the " exclusive" object of the Soci- 
ety, that no member has hitherto been rash enough to make 
the attempt. At the same time it is quite constitutional to 
vindicate the cruel laws which are crushing these people 

*The first President of the Society, was, as we shall see hereafter^ 
no inconsiderable dealer. 

t See proceedings of Am, Col. Society of 20th January, 1827. 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE COMPROMISE. 13 

in the dust, and to show that the oppression they suffer is 
" an ordination of Providence." 

The constitution indeed, forbids the transportation of 
the free blacks without "their consent ;" but it is very 
constitutional to justify and encourage such oppression of 
them, as shall compel them to seek in the wilds of Africa, 
a refuge from American cruelty. 

The natural result of this compromise of principle, this 
suppression of truth, this sacrifice to unanimity, has been 
the adoption of expediency as the standard of right and 
wrong, in the place of the revealed will of God. Unmind- 
ful of the poet's precept 

Be virtuous ends pursued by virtuous means, 
Nor think the intention sanctifies the means, 

good men, and good Christians have been tempted by their 
zeal for the Society to countenance opinions and practices 
inconsistant with justice and humanity. Confident that 
their motives were good, and their object important, they 
have been too little scrupulous of the means they employed ; 
and hence the Society has actually exerted a demoralizing 
influence over its own members, by leading them occasion- 
ally to advance in its behalf opinions at variance with truth 
and Christianity. Unhappily the evil influence of the Soci- 
ety has not been confined to its own members. It has to 
a lamentable extent, vitiated the moral sense of the com- 
munity, by reconciling public opinion to the continuance 
of slavery, and by aggravating those sinful prejudices 
against the free blacks, which are subjecting them to insult 
and persecution, and denying them the blessings of educa- 
cation and religious instruction. 

We are sensible that these are grave assertions, and 
that many will deem them very extraordinary ones. The 
reader's belief is not solicited for them at present, nor will 
it be to any assertion hereafter made, till supported by 
unquestionable evidence. The remarks in this chapter 
are intended only as a general statement of the case against 
the Society, and as an explanation of the process by which 
many excellent men belonging to it, have insensibly been 
seduced into conduct of at least doubtful morality. The 
charges now made will in due time be substantiated by 
2* 



14 SOCIETY TO BE JUDGED BY ITS LANGUAGE. 

authentic facts, and by quotations from the language both 
official and private, of members of the Society. 

True it is, that Colonizationists protest most earnestly 
against being judged by any, but the official language of 
the Board of Managers. To the justice of this protest, it 
is impossible to assent. The Society is arraigned at the 
bar of the public, not for the object avowed in the constitu- 
tion, but for the influence it exerts in vindicating and pro- 
longing slavery, and in augmenting the oppression of the 
free blacks. This influence, if exerted at all, must be 
exerted by individuals in the capacity of members, agents, 
and officers of the Society, and the only means they possess 
of exerting this influence, is by the expression of their sen- 
timents. To insist, therefore, that these sentiments may 
not be quoted, to show what influence the Society does 
exert, is to contradict the plainest suggestions of common 
sense. Certainly the whole Society is not necessarily 
responsible for the sentiments of a single member ; but 
the question is not, whether one or two or more members 
have said improper things, but whether the influence gener- 
ally exerted by the Society, is what it is alleged to be ; 
and this is a question of fact, to be decided by evidence, 
and that evidence necessarily consists of the opinions 
expressed by its officers, agents, and distinguished mem- 
bers, and auxiliary associations. 

This protest moreover comes with an ill grace from a 
Society that has appealed to the letters and the speeches of 
its members, to repel the objection urged against it in cer- 
tain quarters, of a desire to interfere with the rights of 
slave-holders.* Should the members and officers of an 
Anti-Slavery Society, continually at its public meetings, 
deliver addresses in favor of intermarriages between whites 
and blacks — should auxiliaries pass resolutions approving 
of such marriages — should these addresses and resolutions 
be published and circulated at the expense of the Society, 
and should its official magazine recommend such marriages, 
would it not be the excess of disingenuousness, for the 
Society to attempt to repel the charge that its influence 
was exerted to bring about an amalgamation of the two 

* See Af. Rep. VI. 198. 



ITS INFLUENCE ON FREE COLORED PERSONS. 15 

races, by denying that it was responsible for the language 
of its members, and by appealing to its constitution and 
official reports, in which no allusion was made to the sub- 
ject? All that can fairly be demanded, is that the quota- 
tions be honestly made, and that they be sufficiently 
numerous and explicit, to establish the facts they are 
brought to prove. In the following pages will be found 
numerous extracts from Colonization documents ; and it is 
right to observe, that they are for the most part, merely 
selections, and bearing generally but a small proportion to 
the whole number of extracts to the same point that might 
have been adduced. Some few of the extracts have been 
made by other writers ; but the great mass of them have 
been selected by the author, and in no instance has he 
given a quotation which he does not believe is fairly and 
honestly made. To prevent mistakes it may be well to 
mention, that the African Repository is a monthly maga- 
zine, and is, as appears from the title page, " published by 
order of the Managers of the American Colonization 
Society." The Editor is understood to be the Secretary 
of the Society. This periodical, together with the annual 
reports, and occasional official addresses, are the only 
publications for which the managers of the Society are 
responsible : when Colonization newspapers are mentioned, 
nothing more is intended by the expression, than that they 
are papers, which espouse the cause of the Society. 



CHAPTER II. 

Influence of the Society on the condition of free persons of color. 

The object of the Society is declared by the Constitu- 
tion, to be exclusively the colonization of free persons of 
color, with their own consent. Now there is nothing in 
this object necessarily benevolent. A colony may be estab- 
lished for commercial purposes, or as a military station, or 
as a receptacle for convicts ; or to aid the diffusion of 



16 AGGRAVATES PREJUDICES. 

Christianity. The absence in the Constitution of all avowed 
motive for the proposed colony, invites the co-operation of 
all who advocate the scheme from any motive whatever. 
For the purpose of raising money, it is the policy of the 
Society to appeal to all the various and discordant motives 
that can be incited in behalf of the colony. A strong and 
very general prejudice exists against the free blacks. It is 
unfortunately the policy of the Society to aggravate this 
prejudice, since the more we abominate these people, the 
more willing we shall be to pay money for the purpose of 
getting rid of them. The influence of the doctrine of expe- 
diency on good men, will be seen in the unchristian lan- 
guage they have used, in regard to this unhappy and 
oppressed portion of their fellow men. 

" Free blacks are a greater nuisance, than even slaves 
themselves." Address of C C. Harper, Af Rep. 11. 189. 

"A horde of miserable people — the objects of univer- 
sal suspicion — subsisting by plunder." Speech of Gen. 
Mercer, Vice President. 

" Of all classes of our population, the most vicious is 
that of the free colored — contaminated themselves, they 
extend their vices to all around them." Speech of Mr. 
Clay, Vice President, 12th Report, p. 21. 

"Averse to labor, with no incentives to industry, or mo- 
tives to respect, they maintain a precarious existence by 
petty thefts and plunder." African Rep. VI. 135. 

" They are alike injurious by their conduct and exam- 
pie to all other classes of society." Memorial of Manches- 
ter Col. Soc. to Virginia Legislature. 

" A large mass of human beings who hang as a vile 
excrescence upon society." Address of C. L. Mosby, be- 
fore a Col. Soc. in Virginia. 

" This class of persons a curse and contagion 
wherever they reside." African Rep. III. 203. 

"Of all the descriptions of our population, and of either 
portion of the African race, the free persons of color are 
by far as a class, the most corrupt, depraved and aban- 
doned" Speech of Mr. Clay, African Rep. VI. 12. 

" An anomalous race of beings, the most depraved upon 
earthr African Rep. VII. 230. 



EXCUSES OF OPPRESSION. 17 

" They are a mildew upon our fields, a scourge to our 
backs, and a stain upon our escutcheon." Memorial of 
Kentucky Col. Soc. to Congress. 

" 1 will look no farther when I seek for the most de- 
graded, the most abandoned race on the earth, but rest my 
eye on this people." Address before the Lynchburgh Col. 
Soc. 

" There is a class (free blacks) among us, introduced 
by violence, notoriously ignorant, degraded and miserable, 
mentally diseased, broken spirited, acted upon by no mo- 
tives to honorable exertions, scarcely reached in their de- 
basement by the heavenly light." Editorial Article, Afr. 
Rep. I. 68. 

We may here remark that the tone of these extracts is 
very different from that used when the speaker desires to 
excite sympathy for the wretched. We are told that these 
people are vicious and debased, but no hint is given that 
their vice and debasement are the result of sinful prejudices 
and cruel laws. — No appeal is made to the spirit of Chris- 
tianity to pour oil and wine into the wounds of suffering 
humanity. We are not reminded that these wretches are 
our brethren for whom Christ died. Nothing is omitted to 
impress us with a sense of the depth of the misery into 
which they are plunged ; but for what object are these 
frightful pictures presented to us 1 Is it to urge us to 
feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to instruct the igno- 
rant, and to reform the wicked ? No, but to transport 
them to Africa ! 

To an unsophisticated Christian it would seem that the 
true way of relieving the wretchedness and vice of these 
people would be, first to protest against their unrighteous 
oppression, and to procure the repeal of those laws which 
forbid their instruction ; and then to make them partakers 
of the blessings of education and religion. But far from 
the Colonization Society are all such old-fashioned ways of 
doing good. Instead of protesting against the causes of all 
this misery, the society excuses and justifies the 

OPPRESSION OF THE FREE NEGROES, AND THE PREJUDICES 
AGAINST THEM. 

" Severe necessity places them (free negroes) in a 
class of degraded beings." Address of Mr. Rives to 
Lynchburgh Col. Soc. Afr. Rep. V. 238. 



18 EXCUSES OP OPPRESSION. 

"The severe legislation, I will not say that under all 
circumstances it is loo severe, the severe legislation of the 
slave States which drives their emancipated blacks to the 
free States, and scatters the nuisance there, attests that we 
have a share in this evil." Speech of G. Smith, Esq. Vice 
President. 14th Report, p. xiii. 

" This law," (a law by which a manumitted negro be- 
comes again a slave if he remains twelve months in the 
state) " odious and unjust as it may at first view appear, 
and hard as it may seem to bear upon the liberated negro 
was doubtless dictated by sound policy, and its repeal 
would be regarded by none with more unfeigned regret than 
by the friends of African colonization. It has restrained 
many masters from giving freedom to their slaves, and has 
thereby contributed to check the growth of an evil already 
too great and formidable." Memorial from Powhattan 
Col. Soc. to Virginia Legislature. 

" I am clear that whether we consider it with refer- 
ence to the welfare of the state, or the happiness of the 
blacks, it were better to have left them in chains than to 
have liberated them to receive such freedom as they enjoy, 
and greater freedom we cannot, must not allow them." Af. 
Rep. III. 197. 

"The habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society 
— prejudices which neither refinement, nor argument, nor 
education, nor religion itself can subdue, mark the 
people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of a 
degradation inevitable and incurable^ Address of the 
Connecticut Col. Soc. 

" The managers consider it clear that causes exist and 
are now operating to prevent their improvement and eleva- 
tion to any considerable extent as a class in this country, 
which are fixed not only beyond the control of the friends 
of humanity, but of any human power : Christianity can- 
not do for them here what it will do for them in Africa. 
This is not the fault of the colored man, nor of the white 
man, but an ordination of providence, and no more to 
be changed than the laws of nature. 15th Report, p. 47. 

11 We do not ask that the provisions of our Constitution 
and statute book should be so modified as to relieve and ex- 
alt the condition of the colored people whilst they remain 
with us. Let these provisions stand in all their rigor 



LAWS AGAINST FREE BLACKS. 19 

to work out the ultimate and unbounded good of these peo- 
ple. Memorial of the New- York State Col. Soc. to the 
Legislature. 

" If we were constrained to admire so uncommon a 
being" (a pious, highly cultivated, scientific negro,) "our 
very admiration would be mingled with disgust, because in 
the physical organization of his frame we meet an insur- 
mountable barrier even to approach to social intercourse, 
and in the Egyptian color which nature has stamped on his 
features, a principle of repulsion so strong as to forbid the 
idea of a communion either of interest or of feeling as ut- 
terly abhorrent." Af Rep. VII. p. 331. 

We find from the foregoing extracts that the Board of 
Managers of the American Colonization Society officially 
declare that no human power can counteract the causes 
which prevent the elevation and improvement of the free 
black in this country. That not even the religion of Christ 
can in this land of light of Bibles and of temples, do for 
him what it can amid the darkness and paganism of Africa. 
And we find a powerful State Society recommending to 
the Legislature to do evil, that good may come. Now if 
it be true, that the degradation of the free blacks is inevi- 
table and cannot even be removed by Christianity, then in- 
deed as the Society affirms, it is not the " fault" of the 
white man, and he, not being in fault, there is no reason 
why he should chang • his conduct towards them, or repeal 
those laws which Mr. Smith will not say are under all cir- 
cumstances " too severe." Let us see what are these 
laws, which a most worthy Colonizationist, and a distin- 
guished officer of the Society, intimates, are not too se- 
vere ; and what are those causes of degradation which we 
are assured by the Board of Managers, are an ordination 
of providence, and no more to be changed than the laws of 
nature. 

In South-Carolina, if a free negro "entertains" a runa- 
way slave, he forfeits ten pounds, and if unable to pay the 
fine, which must be the case ninety-nine times in a hundred, 
he is to be sold as a slave for life. In 1827 a free woman 
and her three children were thus sold, for harboring two 
slave children. 

In Mississippi every negro or mulatto, not being 



20 LAWS AGAINST FREE BLACKS. 

able to prove himself free, may be sold as a slave. 
Should the certificate of his manumission, or the evidence 
of his parent's freedom be lost or stolen, he is reduced to 
hopeless bondage. This provision extends to most of the 
slave States, and is in full operation in the District of 
Columbia. 

In South. Carolina, any assembly of free negroes, even in 
the presence of white persons, " in a confined or secret 
place for the purpose of mental instruction" is an unlawful 
assembly, and may be dispersed by a magistrate, who is 
authorized to inflict twenty lashes on each free negro at- 
tending the meeting. 

In the city of Savannah, any person who teaches a free 
negro to read or write, incurs a penalty of thirty dol- 
lars. Of course a father may not instruct his own children. 

In Maryland, a Justice of the Peace may order a free 
negro's ears to be cut off for striking a white man. In 
Kentucky, for the same offence, he is to receive thirty 
lashes, " well laid on." The law of Louisiana declares, 
" Free people of color ought never to insult or strike 
white people, nor presume to conceive themselves equal to 
the whites; but, on the contrary, they ought to yield to 
them on every occasion, and never speak or answer them 
but with respect, under the penalty of imprisonment accord- 
ing to the nature of the case." 

The corporation of Georgetown, in the District of Co- 
lumbia, passed an ordinance making it penal for any free 
negro to receive from the post-ojjice, have in his possession, 
or circulate any publication or writing whatsoever of a 
seditious character. 

In North-Carolina, the law prohibits a free colored 
man, whatever may be his attainments or ecclesiastical 
authority, to preach the gospel. 

In Georgia, a white man is liable to a fineof/?ve hundred 
dollars for teaching a free negro to read or write. If one 
free negro teach another, he is to be fined and whipped at 
the discretion of the court! Should a free negro presume 
to preach to, or exhort his companions, he may be seized 
without warrant, and whipped thirty-nine lashes, and the 
same number of lashes may be applied to each one of his 
congregation. 



IMPROVEMENT OF FREE BLACKS DISCOURAGED. 21 

In Virginia, should free negroes or their children as- 
semble at a school to learn reading and writing, any 
Justice of the Peace may dismiss the school with twenty 
stripes on the back of each pupil. 

In some States, free negroes may not assemble together 
for any purpose, to a greater number than seven. In 
North-Carolina, free negroes may not trade, buy, or sell, 
out of the cities or towns in which they reside, under the 
penalty of forfeiting their goods, and receiving in lieu 
thereof thirty-nine lashes. 

The laws of Ohio against the free blacks are peculiarly 
detestable, because not originating from the fears and 
prejudices of slave holders. Not only are the blacks ex- 
cluded in that State from the benefit of public schools, but 
with a refinement of cruelty unparalleled, they are doomed 
to idleness and poverty, by a law which renders a white 
man who employs a colored one to labor for him one hour, 
liable for his support through life ! ! 

By a late law of Maryland, a free negro coming into 
the State, is liable to a fine of fifty dollars for every week he 
remains in it. If he cannot pay the fine he is sold. 

In Louisiana, the penalty for instructing a free black 
in a Sunday School, is, for the first offence, five hundred 
dollars ; for the second offence, death ! ! 

Such, in a greater or less degree, is the situation of 
three hundred thousand of our fellow citizens; and the 
only comfort, the only consolation, the only mitigation of 
their sufferings, which a Society, said to be " full of bene- 
volence, and the hallowed impulses of Heaven's own 
mercy," proposes, or even wishes for them, is their trans- 
portation to Africa ! 

Is this a harsh assertion 1 Let us attend to the proofs 
that the Society discourages all attempts to improve 

THE CONDITION OF THE FREE BLACKS. 

We have already seen, that the managers of the Ameri- 
can Colonization Society officially declare, that, in their 
opinion, no human power can remove the causes which 
prevent the improvement and elevation of the free negroes 
to any considerable extent in this country ; and that the 
New-York Society, in addressing the Legislature, express 
their desire, that the provisions in the constitution and sta- 

3 



22 IMPROVEMENT OF FREE BLACKS DISCOURAGED, 

tute book of that State relative to the blacks, may " stand 
in all their rigor." The provision in the constitution here 
alluded to, is that recent one, which virtually deprived the 
blacks of the right of suffrage which the fathers of the Re- 
volution had given them, by requiring a freehold qualifica- 
tion. In the Convention by which the new constitution 
was formed, many of the most distinguished citizens and 
able lawyers, including Rufus King and Chancellor Kent, 
had protested against this proscription as unjust and anti- 
republican ; but the Colonization Society are free from 
scruples of this sort in relation to men with black skins, and 
they declare to the Legislature, without whose consent this 
provision in the constitution cannot be changed, that they 
wish it to stand in all its rigor. But not contented with 
giving their sanction to past acts of injustice, the Society 
use their influence with the Legislature to prevent its bene- 
volent operation in future. Their Memorial proceeds : — 
" Persuaded that their condition here is not susceptible of 
a radical and permanent improvement, we would deprecate 
any legislation that should encourage the vain and injuri- 
ous hope of it." 

The Connecticut Colonization Society, in their address 
already quoted, denies that even " religion itself" can 
subdue the prejudices existing against these people. The 
same address authoritatively decides, that the free blacks 
" constitute a class by themselves, a class out of which no 
individual can be elevated." 

The Kentucky State Colonization Society, in their official 
address say, " It is against this increase of colored persons, 
who take but a nominal freedom, and cannot rise from 
their degraded condition, that this Society attempts to pro- 
vide." Af Rep. VI. 82. 

" The people of color must in this country remain for 
ages, probably forever, a separate and distinct caste, 
weighed down by causes powerful, universal, invincible, 
which neither legislation, nor Christianity can remove." 
Af. Rep. Edit. Art. VII. 196. 

" We have endeavored, but in vain, to restore them (the 
free negroes) either to self respect or to the respect of 
others. It is not our fault that we have failed. It is not 
theirs. It has resulted from a cause over which neither we 



IMPROVEMENT OF FREE BLACKS DISCOURAGED. 23 

nor they can ever have control" Speech of Rev. Dr. Nott 
before N. York Col Soc. 

This last extract claims attention from the extraordi- 
nary assertions it contains, and from the high character of 
the author. No explanations are given of the vain endea- 
vors which have been made to restore the blacks either to self 
respect or to the respect of others. When, where, by 
whom, and how were these efforts made? Dr. Nott is 
addressing the State Society, and speaks in the plural num- 
ber. We confess we see nothing like such efforts in the 
Memorial of that Society to the Legislature. It is more- 
over to be recollected, that the American Society, in its 
address to its auxiliaries, warns them against such efforts. 
" The moral, intellectual and political improvement of 
people of color within the United States, are objects for- 
eign to the powers of this Society." Address of the Am. 
Col Soc. to its auxiliaries. Af. Rep. VII. 291. 

Let us see also what two religious colonization papers 
say on this subject. 

" If the free people of color were generally taught to 
read, it might be an inducement to them to remain in this 
country, we would offer them no such inducements." South- 
ern Religious Telegraph, February 19, 1831. 

" It must appear evident to all, that every endeavor to 
divert the attention of the community, or even a portion of 
the means which the present crisis so imperatively calls for, 
from the Colonization Society, to measures calculated to 
bind the colored population to this country, and seeking to 
raise them to a level with the whites, whether by founding 
colleges, or in any other icay, tends directly in the propor- 
tion that it succeeds, to counteract and thwart the whole 
plan of colonization." New-Haven Religious Intelligencer , 
July, 1831 . 

We perceive from these extracts, that the improvement 
of the free blacks is represented by Colonizationists as im- 
possible, and of course it is folly to attempt what is imprac- 
ticable. The very attempt, moreover, is calculated to 
counteract and thwart the whole plan of Colonization, as 
far as it succeeds. But this is not all. Some might think 
the obligations of Christianity required us to instruct the 
ignorant, and to succor the oppressed. To remove this 



24 IMPROVEMENT OF FREE BLACKS DISCOURAGED. 

prejudice, we are assured that even Christianity cannot 
help the negro in America ! When before, has the power 
of our blessed religion in changing the heart, subduing evil 
affections, and removing unholy prejudices been questioned 
by professing Christians? 

The influence of the gospel of Christ, has led thousands 
and tens of thousands to offer themselves as willing victims 
at the stake or in the amphitheatre — it has prostrated the tem- 
ples, the altars, and the gods of paganism — it has triumphed 
over ancient and endeared superstitions — it has delivered 
the Hindoo from the fetters of caste, and tamed the North 
American savage, and yet, according to Colonizationists, 
it is utterly impotent, when brought into collision with the 
prejudices of American Christians, towards an unhappy 
portion of their fellow countrymen ! 

And what unsuccessful experiments, justify this depre- 
ciation of the gospel of Jesus Christ? When have those 
who thus speak of the inenicacy of religion in subduing 
these sinful prejudices, tried its power ? When have Colo- 
nizationists warned Christians that the negro is created by 
the same Almighty Being, descended from the same parent, 
redeemed by the same Saviour, and made an heir of the 
same immortality with themselves ? When have we been 
reminded by Colonizationists of that heart-searching decla- 
ration which will be uttered by the Judge at the last day, 
" inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these my 
brethren, ye did it not unto me ?" 

The oppressed and degraded state of the free blacks 
here, is urged by Colonizationists as a reason for removing 
them to Africa, and the enterprise is claimed by them as 
one of Christian benevolence. Now should it appear that 
the persecution of these people is mainly inflicted by Colo- 
nizationists themselves, it may reasonably be doubted, 
whether the act of sending persons beyond the reach of our 
own cruelty, is one of legitimate benevolence. We have 
never heard the expulsion of the Huguenots from France, 
cited as a proof of the humanity of Lewis the XIV. We 
are aware that the intimation, that Colonizationists are 
themselves mainly the cause of the oppression and degra- 
dation of the free blacks, will be received by many with 
indignant surprise ; and yet the facts on this point are 



NUMBER SENT TO AFRICA. 25 

strong and abundant. They will be developed in the pro- 
gress of this workj but at present we can allude only to one, 
and that a very important one. The Legislatures of Mary- 
land, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Georgia 
are all Colonization Legislatures : that is, they have all 
passed resolutions in favor of the Society ; and yet these 
legislatures all keep in force most cruel and wicked laws 
against the free blacks. Now were they sincerely actuated 
by benevolence towards these people, they might easily 
discover " a more excellent way" of showing their charity, 
than by lauding the Colonization Society. 

Admitting that those who have gone to Africa have 
improved their condition, what is the total amount of good 
thus effected ? Of the 319,467 free negroes in the United 
States, 2,122 have in the last 18 years been sent to Liberia. 
Supposing them to be happy in their new abode, at what 
a deplorable sacrifice of the happiness of their brethren 
here, has their own been purchased ! To raise funds for 
their transportation, our churches and halls, in all parts of 
the United States, have rung with reproaches and accusa- 
tions against the free people of color. Orators, preachers, 
legislators have denounced them as nuisances, vile excres- 
cences on the body politic; ignorant, depraved, debased, 
and utterly incapable of improvement and elevation. The 
laws oppressing them have been vindicated, and all legis- 
lation deprecated, that would even encourage the hope of 
their permanent improvement. 

And is it possible that this general and united effort to 
prevent these people from rising, and to render them 
odious to the community, should have no practical 
effect on public opinion and conduct? Already do we 
hear their forcible expulsion from the country, urged in 
petitions, and advocated in our State Legislatures. He 
must be wilfully blind to passing events, who does not per. 
ceive that the persecution of these people is increasing in 
extent and malignity. Lafayette remarked in his last visit 
wiih astonishment, the aggravation of the prejudices against 
the blacks, and stated that in the revolutionary war, the 
black and white soldiers messed together without hesitation. 

In no instance perhaps, has Colonization had so direct 
and obvious an influence in augmenting the injuries and 
3* 



26 COLONIZATION INFLUENCE IN CONNECTICUT. 

oppression of this unhappy race as in Connecticut. To 
that State have good men long rejoiced to look as to a 
bright pattern of a Christian republic. There they beheld 
political liberty in its highest perfection, and so divested by 
the influence of religion, of those irregularities of conduct 
which too often attend it, that the State was proverbially 
distinguished as ''the land of steady habits." In no part 
of the world were the blessings of education more highly 
valued, or more generally diffused. The Colonization 
Society had there taken a strong hold on the affections of 
the people, and had found in Connecticut, divines and 
politicians, and in the religious periodicals of New-Haven, 
zealous and able champions. 

The city of New-Haven had been long, alike distin- 
guished for its literary institutions, and for the sobriety and 
piety of its inhabitants. It is not, therefore, surprising 
that some of the most intelligent and influential of our 
colored citizens, were led to believe that New-Haven would 
be a proper site for a school for their children, and that 
such a school would there find generous patrons. In 1831, 
a convention was held in Philadelphia of delegates from 
the free colored people in other States, and it was deter- 
mined that an effort should be made to raise funds for "a 
Collegiate school, on the manual labor system." A com- 
mittee was appointed to carry the plan into execution. 
This committee published in Philadelphia, " An appeal to 
the benevolent," in which they stated the necessity of the 
proposed school, on account of the difficulty which colored 
children experienced in gaining admission into ordinary 
seminaries, or mechanical establishments ; and that the 
proposed seminary would be located at New-Haven, and 
"established on the self supporting system, so that the 
student may cultivate habits of industry, and obtain a useful 
mechanical or agricultural profession, while pursuing classi- 
cal studies." 

The education of colored youth was publicly counte- 
nanced by several distinguished divines of Philadelphia, 
and Bishops White and Onderdonk, and the Rev. Doctors 
McAuley, Bedell and Ely gave the Committee written 
certificates of their approbation. Little, alas, did these 
gentlemen anticipate the feeling this effort would excite, 



PROCEEDINGS IN NEW-HAVEN. 27 

among the Christians of New-Haven. No sooner had 
intelligence of the intended school reached that city, than 
the mayor summoned a town meeting " to take into con- 
sideration a scheme, said to be in progress for the estab- 
lishment in this city of a college for the education of 
colored youth." The meeting was held on the 8th Septem- 
ber, 1831, and it was " Resolved by the Mayor, Aldermen, 
Common Council, and freemen of the city of New-Haven, 
in city meeting assembled, that we will resist the establish- 
ment of the proposed college in this place by every lawful 
means." This resolution was preceded by a preamble, 
stating that " in connection with this establishment, the 
immediate abolition of slavery in the United States, is not 
only recommended and encouraged by the advocates of the 
proposed college, but demanded as a right," and "that the 
propagation of sentiments, favorable to the immediate 
emancipation of slaves, in disregard of the civil institutions 
of the States to which they belong, and as auxiliary thereto, 
the contemporaneous founding of colleges for educating 
colored people, is an unwarrantable and dangerous interfer- 
ence with the internal concerns of other States, and ought 
to be discouraged." 

That the education of colored citizens in Connecticut, 
is an unwarrantable interference with the internal concerns 
of other States, and that the friends of the proposed college 
ever recommended the immediate emancipation of slaves 
in disregard of the civil institutions of the States to which 
they belong, are assertions which the Mayor, Aldermen, 
Common Council, and free men of the city of New-Haven, 
prudently permitted to rest on their own authority, without 
adducing any other evidence of their truth. 

But surely, the pious and excellent Colonizationists of 
New-Haven, who are so anxious to civilize the natives of 
Africa, must have been indignant at this attempt to keep 
Americans in ignorance. Alas, in that crowded assembly, 
there was but one voice raised against its unholy resolution, 
and that was the voice of a decided Anti-colonizationist, 
the Rev. S. S. Jocelin, while one of the public advocates 
of the resolution, was the Secretary of the New-Haven 
Committee of Correspondence of the American Colonization 
Society. 



28 PROCEEDINGS IN CANTERBURY. 

It is not very reputable to our republicanism and religion 
that there should be any necessity for seminaries for the 
exclusive use of such of our fellow countrymen as happen 
to have darker complexions than our own ; but still less 
reputable is it, that the very persons who would make the 
loudest outcry against the admission of colored youth into 
our colleges, should thus object to their having colleges 
of their own. The Colonization party in New-Haven 
could have prevented this high handed oppression, but their 
influence was exerted not for, but against the improvement 
and elevation of their colored brethren. 

Unhappily for the character of Connecticut, for that of 
our common country, and even of Christianity itself, the 
proceedings in New-Haven were but the commencement 
of a series of outrages on justice, humanity, and the rights 
of freemen. 

There are occasions on which it is treason to truth and 
honor, if not to religion, to suppress our indignation ; and 
while we shall scrupulously adhere to truth in relating the 
measures pursued in Connecticut, to prevent the education 
of a certain class of colored persons, we shall not shrink 
from a free expression of our opinions of those measures, 
and of their authors. 

Miss Crandall, a communicant in the Baptist church, 
and as we believe, a lady of irreproachable character, had 
for some time been at the head of a female boarding school, 
in the town of Canterbury, Connecticut, when in the 
autumn of 1832, a pious colored female applied to her for 
admission into her school, stating that she wanted " to get 
a little more learning — enough if possible to teach colored 
children." After some hesitation, Miss Crandall consented 
to admit her, but was soon informed that this intruder must 
be dismissed, or that the school would be greatly injured. 
This threat turned her attention to the cruel prejudices 
and disadvantages under which the blacks are suffering, 
and she resolved to open a school exclusively for colored girls. 
It has been thought expedient to doubt the philanthropy 
of this resolution, and to attribute it to pecuniary motives. 
Whatever may have been her motives, and pecuniary ones 
would not have been unlawful, she had a perfect right 
to open a school for pupils of any color whatever, and had 



PROCEEDINGS IN CANTERBURY. 29 

not the moral sense of the community been perverted, this 
attempt to instruct the poor, the friendless, and the ignorant, 
would have met with applause instead of contumely. She 
discontinued her school, and in February, 1833, gave pub- 
lic notice of her intention to open one for colored girls. 
This notice excited prodigious commotion in the town of 
Canterbury. That black girls should presume to learn 
reading and writing, and music, and geography, was past 
all bearing. Committee after committee waited on Miss 
Crandall, to remonstrate against the intended school, but 
to no purpose. More efficient means were found necessary 
to avert the impending calamity, and a legal town meeting 
was summoned to consider the awful crisis. At this meet- 
ing resolutions were passed; expressing the strongest disap- 
probation of the proposed school, and the preamble declared 
that " the obvious tendency of this school would be to 
collect within the town of Canterbury, large numbers of 
persons from other States, whose characters and habits 
might be various and unknown to us, thereby rendering 
insecure the persons, property and reputations of our citi- 
zens." Had this extreme nervous apprehension of danger, 
been excited in the good people of Canterbury, by the 
introduction of some hundreds of Irish laborers into their 
village to construct a rail-road or canal, we should still have 
thought that their temperament must be rather peculiar ; 
but when we find them thus alarmed, not merely for their 
property, but for their persons and reputations at the approach 
of fifteen or twenty " young ladies and little misses of 
color," we confess we are astonished that the collected 
wisdom of these people was not able to frame an argument 
against the school, less disgraceful to themselves. 

Andrew T. Judson, Esq., acted as clerk to this meeting, 
and supported the resolutions in a speech in which he is 
reported to have said, "that should the school go into ope- 
ration, their sons and daughters would be forever ruined, 
and property no longer safe." For his part he was not 
willing for the honor and welfare of the town, that even 
one corner of it, should be appropriated to such a purpose. 
After the example which New-Haven had set, he continued, 
shall it be said that we cannot, that we dare not resist?" 



30 PROCEEDINGS IN CANTERBURY. 

Mr. Judson farther stated, that they had " a law \vh\ch 
should prevent that school from going into operation." 

The resolutions of the town meeting, as became so 
grave a matter, were communicated to Miss Crandall by 
the " civil authority and selectmen," but strange as it may 
seem, that lady stood less in dread of them, than they did 
of the "young ladies of color," for she refused to retreat 
from the ground she had taken. 

The example of New-Haven, we have seen, was held 
up to the people of Canterbury by Mr. Judson, for their en- 
couragement and as an earnest of their ultimate success. 
Still the cases were not exactly similar. ,c The civil author- 
ity and selectmen" of Canterbury had not the imposing 
array of power and influence displayed by " the Mayor, 
Aldermen, Common Council and freemen of the city of 
New-Haven." The latter by the mere expression of their 
opinion, had prevented the establishment of a college for 
colored youth ; the latter were set at naught by an unpro- 
tected female. Some means more efficacious than the ful- 
minations of a town-meeting were therefore to be next 
tried. Mr. Judson had indeed a certain law in reserve, 
but it was necessary that certain influences should be previ- 
ously brought into action, before a civilized and Christian 
people could be induced to tolerate the application of that 
law. Colonization, as already remarked, had taken a deep 
hold on the affections of the people of Connecticut. Their 
most eminent men had enrolled themselves in the ranks of 
the Society. To this powerful association recourse was 
now had. On the 22d March, 1833, the " civil authority 
and selectmen" of Canterbury made their "appeal to thb 
American Colonization Society." In this most extraor- 
dinary paper they expatiated on the benevolence of the Soci- 
ety towards the colored population, and deplore the opposi- 
tion it encounters from certain individuals who have form- 
ed " the Anti-Slavery Society." These men they assert 
wish to admit the blacks " into the bosom of our society," 
and would "justify intermarriages with the white people." 
They then recite their own grievances, detail the proceed- 
ings of their town-meeting, dwell on Miss Crandall's per- 
tinacity in pursuing her own plans, and express their horror 
of abolition principles, and state that Mr. Garrison had said 



PROCEEDINGS IN CANTERBURY. 31 

that the excitement in Canterbury " is one of the genuine 
flowers of the Colonization garden ;" and they add " Be it 
so, we appeal to the American Colonization Society, to 
which our statement is addressed — we appeal to every phi- 
lanthropist and to every Christian !" Mr. Judson's name 
appears at the head of the signers to the appeal. 

Had Miss Crandall appealed to the Society in behalf of 
her school, she would probably and very properly have been 
told that the subject of her school was not embraced in the 
constitutional objects of tlie Society; and may we not ask, 
if the Society has no right to encourage, has it any right to 
discourage the establishment of schools of any description 
whatever 1 In the singleness of its object it has often been 
compared to the Bible Society ; what would have been 
thought of such an appeal to the American Bible Society? 
How the appeal was answered we shall presently see. 

Having thus identified their cause with that of the Colo- 
nization Society, and secured the sympathy of its nume- 
rous and powerful friends in Connecticut, Mr. Judson and 
his associates proceeded to further operations. Foiled in 
their attempts to persuade or intimidate, they now resolved 
on coercion. On the 1st April, another town-meeting 
was convened, at which it was " Voted that a petition in 
behalf of the town of Canterbury to the next General As- 
sembly be drawn up in suitable language, deprecating the 
evil consequences of bringing from other towns and other 
States people of color for any purpose, and more especially 
for the purpose of disseminating the principles and doctrines 

Opposed tO THE BENEVOLENT COLONIZATION SYSTEM, pray- 
ing said assembly to pass and enact such laws as in their 
wisdom will prevent the evil." Mr. Judson with others, 
was appointed a Committee to prepare the petition, and to 
request other towns to forward similar petitions. The ma- 
lignity of this vote is equalled only by its absurdity. The 
desired law is to prevent the evil of blacks passing not only 
from other States, but other towns. Every black citizen of 
Connecticut is to be imprisoned in the town in which the 
law happens to find him, and he may not travel into, the ad- 
joining town for " any purpose," and all this especially to 
prevent interference with "the benevolent Colonization 
system." 



32 PROCEEDINGS IN CANTERBURY, 

Did the Colonization Society protest against such an 
outrage being committed in its behalf — did it indignantly 
disclaim all connection, all sympathy with men who in 
its name, were striving to perpetuate such abominable 
tyranny 1 It is not known, that one single Colonizationist in 
Connecticut, has publicly expressed his disapprobation of 
these proceedings.* Certain it is, that the effect of the 
" appeal" and of this vote, was not such as to induce the 
Canterbury gentlemen to faulter in their career — we have 
seen that Mr. Judson had a law, which was to arrest the 
school. When the " appeal" had been before the public just 
one month, the selectmen resolved to avail themselves of 
this law. 

Among the pupils of Miss Crandall, was a colored girl 
about seventeen years of age, who had come from Rhode- 
Island to enjoy the advantages of the school. The pursuit of 
knowledge under discouraging difficulties has rarely failed 
to excite applause ; and the virtuous struggles of the poor 
and obscure to improve and elevate themselves, claim the 
sympathy of Christian benevolence. In the present in- 
stance we behold a youthful female, of a despised and de- 
pressed race, attempting to emerge from the ignorance 
and degradation into which she had been cast by birth ; and 
abandoning her home and friends, and travelling to another 
State, applying for instruction to the only seminary in the 
whole country open to receive her. And now let us see 
what sympathy this poor and defenceless, but innocent and 
praiseworthy girl experienced from the admirers of " the 
benevolent Colonization system." On the day after her ar- 
rival, she was ordered by the selectmen to leave the town. 
This order, as illegal as it was inhumane, was disregarded ; 
and on the 22nd April, Mr. Judson and his fellow function- 
aries instituted on behalf of the town, a suit against her un- 
der an old vagrant act of Connecticut, and a writ was issu- 
ed to the sheriff, to require her appearance before a Jus- 
tice of the Peace : the writ recited, that according to 
the statute she had forfeited to the town $1 G2 for each day 
she had remained in it, since she was ordered to depart ; 

♦ The author has been informed of three Colonization gentlemen in 
Connecticut who condemned the Canterbury affair. He hopes and be- 
lieves there were many more. 



PROCEEDINGS IN CANTERBURY. 33 

and that in default of payment, she was to be whipped 

ON THE NAKED BODY NOT EXCEEDING TEN STRIPES, Un- 
less she departed within ten days after conviction. The 
barbarous and obsolete law under which this suit was 
brought, was intended to protect towns from the intrusion 
of paupers who might become chargeable. The friends of 
the school had offered to give the selectmen bonds to any 
amount, to secure the town from all cost on account of the 
pupils ; and of course this suit was a wicked perversion of 
the law, and the plaintiffs ought to have been indicted, for 
a malicious prosecution under color of office. With equal 
propriety might the civil authority of New-Haven warn a 
student in Yale College from New-York to leave the city, 
and on his refusal, order him to be whipped on the naked 
body as a vagrant pauper. 

About the time of the return of this writ, the Legisla- 
ture of Connecticut assembled, and so successfully had the 
Canterbury persecution been identified with Colonization, 
that a law was passed to suppress the school, and all others 
of a similar character. Its preamble declared that " at- 
tempts have been made to establish literary institutions in 
this State for the instruction of colored persons belonging 
toother States and countries, which would tend to the great 
increase of the colored population of this State, and thereby 
to the injury of the people." The act provides, that every 
person, who shall set up or establish any school, academy, 
or literary institution, for the instruction or education of 
colored persons who are not inhabitants of Connecticut ; or 
who shall teach in such school, or who shall board any 
colored pupil of such school, not an inhabitant of the State, 
shall forfeit one hundred dollars for the first offence, two 
hundred dollars for the second, and so on, doubling for 
each succeeding offence, unless the consent of the civil au- 
thority and select men of the town be previously obtained. 

Mr. Judson's late attempt to enforce the whipping law, 
reminded the Legislature of the propriety of abolishing that 
relic of barbarism, and it was accordingly repealed, and 
thus were the backs of Miss Crandall's pupils saved from 
the threatened laceration. 

It is painful and mortifying to reflect on the law ob- 
tained by Mr. Judson and his associates, for the suppression 
4 



34 ACT OF CONNECTICUT LEGISLATURE. 

of the school, and which has very generally received the 
title of " the Connecticut Black Act." It is an act alien 
to the habits, the character, the religion of Connecticut. 
It is an act which neither policy nor duty can vindicate. 
It is an act which will afford its authors no consolation in 
the prospect of their final account, and which their chil- 
dren will blush to remember. 

It is not surprising that a Connecticut Legislature, 
about to pass a law for the discouragement of learning, 
should wish for an excuse ; nor that they should find them- 
selves constrained to invent one. Miss Crandall had fif- 
teen or twenty girls in her school, and it does not appear 
that the Legislature had ascertained how many of them had 
come from other States, nor that they had inquired into the 
amount of injury sustained by the citizens of Canterbury 
in their " persons, property, and reputations," from these 
" misses of color ;" and yet they unhesitatingly assert, that 
the " increase" of the colored population in the State oc- 
casioned by such schools, would be " great ;" and that 
such increase would tend to the " injury of the people." 
To test the truth of these two assertions, let it be recol- 
lected, first, that no evidence existed that any other semi- 
nary for blacks was at this time contemplated in Con- 
necticut ; and that the free colored people are, as a class, 
sunk in abject poverty, and that very few of them have 
the means of sending their children from other States into 
Connecticut, and there maintaining them at school ; and, 
secondly, that no portion of this population would be so 
little likely to occasion " injury to the people," as those 
who were placed at a religious school, and instructed in 
morals and literature. As to the sincerity of the appre- 
hensions felt by the Legislature, let it be further recollected, 
that the law is intended to prevent the ingress of such blacks 
only as might come for the honorable and virtuous purpose 
of education, while not the slightest impediment is opposed 
to the introduction of cooks, waiters, scullions, shoe- 
blacks, &c, in any number. The best are excluded, the 
worst freely admitted. 

We have seen that Colonizationists regard all at- 
tempts to elevate the free blacks, as an interference with 
their system, and the Black Act is admirably calculated to 



ACT OF CONNECTICUT LEGISLATURE. 35 

prevent their elevation. Connecticut closes her schools to 
blacks from New- York and elsewhere. If this is right, 
and what State more religious than Connecticut, other 
States may be expected to follow her example. Hence no 
seminary, in any one State, for the instruction of the blacks, 
can be founded by their joint contributions; and from the 
academies, boarding-schools, and colleges of the whites, 
they are excluded ; and, of course, they are thus doomed 
to perpetual ignorance. Let each State, it is said, instruct 
its own youth. It is well for Yale College that this doc- 
trine is applied only to black aspirants for knowledge. 

In 1828, an African Mission School was established 
at Hartford, for the purpose of educating colored youth, " to 
be selected from our numerous African population," and, 
of course, from other States besides Connecticut. It was 
under the patronage of the Bishops of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church in the United States. No outcry was ex- 
cited against this school ; no citizen of Hartford trembled 
for his property, person or reputation. Why not? Because 
the school was auxiliary to Colonization, and those in- 
structed in it were to be sent out of the country. 

No sooner was the passage of the Black Act known in 
Canterbury, than this triumph over justice, humanity and 
constitutional liberty, was celebrated by a feu dejoie, and 
the ringing of bells. Nor was the act permitted to remain 
a dead letter. Miss Crandall was prosecuted under it, and 
being unable to procure bail, was committed to prison. 
The next day bail was obtained, and she returned to her 
school. Well, indeed, might the public press, with some 
memorable exceptions, execrate the Black Act ; and well 
indeed, might Mr. Judson feel impatient, under the obloquy 
that was falling upon him, as the chief instigator and ma- 
nager of the persecution. " A friend in need, is a friend 
indeed." And now was the time when he needed and 
received that countenance, for which he had appealed to 
the Colonization Society. It was not probably expected 
that the managers of the parent Society would officially 
notice the appeal , but a mode was devised, on the part of 
Connecticut Colonizationists, of publicly expressing their 
approbation of Mr. Judson's conduct. On the anniversary 
of the declaration that " all men are created equal," and a 



36 TRIAL OF MISS CRANDALL. 

few days after Miss Crandall's imprisonment, the Windham 
County* Colonization Society convened, and appointed Mr. 
Judson their orator and agent, thus proclaiming that he 
was the man they delighted to honor. Another response to 
the appeal, was in a few days heard from New- York. The 
chairman of the executive committee of the New -York City 
Colonization Society, is the editor of the New-York Com- 
mercial Advertiser, and its columns were loaded with cri- 
minations of Miss Crandall, and vindications of the Black 
Act. " The inhabitants of Canterbury" were declared to be 
"as quiet, peaceable, humane and inoffensive people as can 
be named in the United States." The constitutionality of the 
Black Act was broadly maintained, and it was averred to 
be "just such a law in its spirit, if not in its provisions, as 
we are in the constant practice of enforcing in this city, 
to prevent our charitable institutions from being filled to 
overflowing with black paupers from the South, and white 
paupers from Europe." Of the gentleman who drafted the 
Black Act, the public were assured, " a warmer heart than 
his throbs in few bosoms, and the African race has no 
firmer friend than him."t 

On the 23d of August, Miss Crandall was brought to 
trial. The crime with which she was charged, was fully 
proved. One of the witnesses testified : " The school is 
usually opened and closed with prayer ; the Scriptures are 
Fcad and explained in the school daily ; portions are com- 
mitted to memory by the pupils, and considered part of 
their education." 

The orator and agent of the Windham Colonization 
Society, opened the case on the part of the prosecution, 
and to this gentleman, it is believed, belongs the distinction 
of having been the first man in New-England to propound 
publicly the doctrine, that free colored persons are not citi- 
zens. This doctrine was essential to the validity of the 
Black Act, since by the federal Constitution, citizens of one 
State are entitled to all the privileges of citizenship in all 
the States ; and the Black Act prohibited colored persons 
from other States from going to school in Connecticut ; a 

* The county in which Canterbury 13 situated. 
t Com. Adv. July 16 and 29, 1833. 



TRIAL OF MISS CRANDALL. 37 

prohibition palpably unconstitutional, if free blacks are citi- 
zens. The presiding Judge submitted the cause to the 
jury without comment ; and some of them having scru- 
ples about Mr. Judson's new doctrine, refused to agree in 
a verdict of guilty, and a new trial was consequently or- 
dered. In the ensuing October, Miss Crandall was again 
placed at the bar, while the vice-president of the New 
Haven Colonization Society, Judge Dagget, took his seat 
on the bench. The cause against the defendant was again 
argued by the Windham Colonization orator and agent; and 
Judge Dagget, warned by the result of the preceding 
trial, of the necessity of enlightening the consciences of the 
jury, delivered an elaborate charge. Rarely has any 
Judge enjoyed such an opportunity of defending the poor 
and fatherless, of doing justice to the afflicted and needy, 
of delivering the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor. 
The merits of the cause turned on the simple question, 
whether free blacks are citizens or not. We might have 
presumed that a Judge, aware of his solemn responsibili- 
ties, would have prepared himself for the decision of this 
momentous question, by the most patient and thorough 
research. On the opinion he might pronounce, would per- 
haps rest the future education, comfort, freedom, and not un- 
likely, everlasting happiness of multitudes of his fellow 
men. Under such circumstances, the public had a right 
to expect, that he would resort to every source of informa- 
tion ; that he would consult the opinions of eminent states- 
men and jurists, investigate the constitutional history of the 
rights of these people, study the proceedings of Congress in 
relation to them, and bring together such a mass of facts, 
such an array of arguments, as would prove that his deci- 
sion, whatever it might be, was the result of conscientious 
inquiry, and that the bench was elevated far above the 
prejudices and passions, which had brought to the bar an 
innocent and benevolent female. 

The Judge in his charge, expresses himself in the fol- 
lowing words :* " Are the free people of color citizens ? 

♦We quote from a newspaper report of the charge, and have no 
knowledge that the accuracy of the report has ever been denied. 

4* 



33 judge dagget's charge. 

I answer, no." The grounds on which this answer is 
given, appear to be the following : 

1st. " They are not so styled in the Constitution of the 
United States. In that clause of the Constitution which 
fixes the basis of representation, there was an opportunity 
to have called them citizens, if they were so considered. 
But that makes free persons (adding three-fifths of all other 
persons) the basis of representation and taxation." 

The words of the Constitution referred to by the Judge, 
are, (Art. I. Sect. 3.) " Representatives and direct taxes 
shall be apportioned among the several States which may be 
included within this Union, according to their respective 
numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole number of free persons, including those bound to 
service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not 
taxed, three-fifths of all other persons." 

Now, it seems, free colored persons cannot be citizens, 
because they are not in this section so called ; but. un- 
fortunately free ivhite persons are not called citizens, 
and they also must therefore be disfranchised ! Appren- 
tices ("those bound to service for a term of years,") are 
likewise included among free persons, and they also cannot 
be citizens ! ' 

Had free ivhite persons been spoken of as citizens, and 
free black persons only as " persons," then indeed there 
would have been some force in the Judge's first reason ; 
but as there is not the slightest reference in the Constitu- 
tion to the complexion of the " free persons," we cannot 
understand the argument, and proceed, therefore, to his 

2d reason. " They (free negroes) are not. so styled, 
(citizens) so far as I am aware, in the laws of Congress, or 
of any of the States." 

It would thus seem that men with black skins cannot 
be citizens, unless the laws expressly declare them to be 
so. As far as we are aware, men with red hair are not 
styled citizens in the laws of Congress, or of any of the 
States. 

3d reason. " His Honor then read from Kent's Com- 
mentary, Vol. II. p. 210, a note in which the commen- 
tator speaks of the degraded condition of the blacks, 



JUDGE DAGGET'S CHARGE, 39 

and the disabilities under which they labor, and thence 
inferred that, in Kent's opinion, they were not citizens." 

Had the Judge found it convenient to consult the text 
of this learned and independent jurist, the following pas- 
sage would have saved him the trouble of drawing an in- 
ference. 

" The article in the Constitution of the United States, 
declaring that citizens of each State were entitled to Jl 
the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
States, applies to natural born or duly naturalized citizens, 
and if they remove from one State to another, they are 
entitled to the privileges that persons of the same description 
are entitled to in the State to which the removal is made, and 
to none other. If, therefore, for instance, free persons of 
color are not entitled to vote in Carolina, free persons of 
color emistratincr there from a Northern State would not be 
entitled to vote." Here is an express admission of the 
citizenship of free colored persons, and their case is cited 
to illustrate the rights of citizens under the federal Consti- 
tution. If a free black, according to the commentary, 
moving from one State to another, is, under the federal 
Constitution, entitled only to such privileges as the free 
blacks in the latter State enjoy, it follows irresistibly that 
he is entitled to such privileges as the free blacks do there 
enjoy. Now, the free blacks of Connecticut enjoy a legal 
right to go to school, and to any school that will receive 
them ; hence, according to Chancellor Kent, a free black 
removing from another State into Connecticut, has the 
same right, and hence the Black Act is plainly and palpably 
unconstitutional. The fourth reason assigned by the Judge 
is as follows, viz : 

" Another reason for believing that people of color are 
not considered citizens, is found in the fact, that ivhen the 
United States Constitution was adopted, every State except 
Massachusetts tolerated slavery." 

Why a free black man cannot be a citizen, because 
another black man is a slave, is a problem we confess our- 
selves unable to solve. 

Such are the arguments, and the only ones adduced by 
the Judge to support his portentous decision — a decision 
which tends to strip the free negro of his property and 



40 FREE BLACKS CITIZENS. 

rights ; renders him an alien in the land of his birth ; exposes 
him to contumely and oppression, and prepares the way for 
his forcible deportation to the shores of Africa. 

In order to do full justice to Judge Dagget, it may be 
proper to notice his answers to objections, since these an- 
swers may perhaps be regarded as negative arguments. To 
the assertion that free blacks own vessels which participate 
in the peculiar privileges of American shipping, and that 
they sue in the United States courts, he simply replied, that 
these claims have never been settled by judicial decisions. 
To the argument that free blacks may be guilty of high 
treason, he replied, " So may any person who resides un- 
der the government, and enjoys its protection, if he rises 
up against it." 

Having thus fairly stated the Judge's arguments, we 
will now take the liberty of presenting a kw facts having 
an important bearing on this question ; facts, be it remem- 
bered, that were accessible to the Judge, had he thought it 
worth while to look for them. 

By the fourth of the " Articles of Confederation," it 
was provided that "the free inhabitants of these States shall 
be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of free citi- 
zens in the several States." While these articles were 
under consideration in Congress, it appears from the jour- 
nals, that on the 25th June, 1778, " the delegates from South- 
Carolina moved the following amendment in behalf of their 
State — ' In Article fourth between the words free inhabi- 
tants, insert white.' Passed in the negative — Ayes 2 
States — Nays 8 States — I State divided." Here then was 
a solemn decision of the revolutionary Congress that free 
negroes should be entitled to all the privileges and immu- 
nities of free citizens in the several States. Judge Dagget 
thinks that the Constitution of the United States did not re- 
gard free blacks as citizens, because in 1788 all the States 
with one exception tolerated slavery; yet in 177S, Con- 
gress decided that free blacks were citizens, although all 
the States, without one exception, tolerated slavery. Ten 
years after this decision, the new Constitution was formed, 
and the clause respecting citizenship in the several States 
was transferred to it from the articles of confederation, with 
slight verbal alterations. That the clause embraced free 



FREE BLACKS CITIZENS. 41 

negroes, was settled by the vote we have quoted — no words 
were added to exclude them ; no intimation was given that 
the new Constitution was disfranchising thousands, and 
tens of thousands whom Congress had declared were in- 
vested with all the rights and immunities of free citizens. 
No desire was expressed to disfranchise these people, and 
in the debates on the Constitution, this.disfranchisement was 
never alluded to either in the language of praise or of cen- 
sure, — and for more than forty years after the adoption of 
the Constitution, no suspicion existed that it had divested 
the free blacks of the citizenship they enjoyed under the 
confederation, till the discovery was made by the agent and 
orator of the Windham Colonization Society, and juridical- 
ly announced by the Vice President of the New-Haven Co- 
lonization Society. 

Judge Dagget is not aware that free blacks are styled 
citizens in the laws of Congress or of any of the States ! 
How laborious has been his search for such laws, we shall 
now see. Probably the Judge will admit, that when the 
laws speak of male citizens, they recognize the existence of 
female citizens ; and most Judges would admit, that where 
the laws speak of white citizens, they recognize the exist- 
ence of citizens who are not white. 

The act of Congress of 1792, for organizing the militia, 
provides for the enrolment of" free white male citizens." 

The act of Congress of 1803, " to prevent the importa- 
tion of certain persons into certain States, when by the laws 
thereof, their admission is prohibited," enacts that masters 
and captains of vessels shall not " import or bring, or cause 
to be imported or brought any negro, mulatto, or other per- 
son of color, not being a native, a citizen, or registered 
seaman of the United States," &c. 

The Constitution of Judge Dagget's own State, limits 
the right of suffrage to " free white male citizens." Why 
male citizens if there are no female citizens ; and why 
white citizens, if there can be no colored ones? Seven or 
eight State Constitutions, in the same manner recognise 
the existence of colored citizens. Had the Judge extended 
his inquiries into State laws, to those of Massachusetts, he 
would have found one prohibiting any negro " other than 
a citizen of the United States," or a subject of the Empe- 



42 FREE BLACKS CITIZENS. 

ror of Morocco, from tarrying in the Commonwealth longer 
than two months. Had he taken the trouble to consult the 
statute book of New- York, he would have found the follow- 
ing clause in the act relative to elections, viz: "If the 
person so offering to vote, be a colored man, the following 
oath shall be tendered to him. ' You do swear (or affirm) 
that you are of the age of twenty-one years, that for three 
years you have been a citizen of this state,' " &c. Re- 
vised Statutes, I. 134. 

Had the Judge condescended to look into the debates of 
the New-York Convention of 1821, on the question of ad- 
mitting the free blacks to the right of suffrage, he would 
have discovered to his astonishment, that the New-York 
lawyers and judges had no hesitation in admitting these peo- 
ple to be citizens, whatever might be their objections to per- 
mitting them to vote. He would have found Chancellor 
Kent earnestly contending for their rights to citizenship in 
other States under the federal Constitution. He would have 
found Rufus King, (no mean authority) concluding an argu- 
ment in their behalf with these words — " As certainly as the 
children of any white man are citizens, so certainly the chil- 
dren of the black man are citizens." 

Had the Judge opened the Constitution of the State of 
New- York, he would have met with a clause in the Article re- 
specting the elective franchise, declaring " No man of color, 
unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this 
state," &,c. 

On the 4th of Sept. 1826, Governor Clinton of New- 
York addressed a letter to the President of the United 
States, demanding the immediate liberation of Gilbert Hor- 
ton, a colored man, as "A citizen of this state," he having 
been imprisoned in Washington as a fugitive slave. 

In every State in the union we believe without one ex- 
ception, a native free-born negro may legally take, hold, 
and convey real estate. Will Judge Dagget deny this to 
be an attribute of citizenship ?* Will he maintain that any 
but citizens may exercise the right of suffrage ? But in 

* Real estate in the city of New- York to the value of $50,000 wag 
lately devised to a free colored man in that city, but according to the 
Judge he is not a citizen, and of course cannot take by devise. Hence 
the property must go to the heir at law, or escheat to the State. 



FREE BLACKS CITIZENS. 43 

eight or ten States free negroes may legally vote. True it 
is, that in others this privilege is denied to them, but it is 
not true that they cannot be citizens, wha cannot vote. 
The act of Congress respecting naturalization provides, 
that in a certain case, the wicloiv and children of a deceased 
alien "shall be citizens of the United States." 

Impressed colored sailors have been claimed by the 
National government as " citizens of the United States;" 
and colored men going to Europe have received passports 
from the department of State, certifying that they were 
citizens of the United States. 

The proposed Constitution of the new State of Missouri 
required the Legislature to pass such laws as might be ne- 
cessary " to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from com- 
ing to settle in the State, under any pretext whatever." 
The Legislature of New- York in reference to this provision, 
on the 15th November, 1820, " Resolved, if the provisions 
contained in any proposed Constitution of a new State deny 
to any citizens of the existing States the privileges and 
immunities of citizens of such new State, that such propo- 
sed Constitution should not be accepted or confirmed, the 
same, in the opinion of this Legislature, being void by the 
Constitution of the United States." This resolution was 
adopted in high party times, by an almost unanimous 
vote. 

The Constitution being submitted to Congress, the 
article excluding colored citizens, was deemed by the House 
of Representatives a violation of the national compact, and 
that body refused to receive Missouri into the Union. A 
compromise was at last agreed to, and Congress admitted 
Missouri on the express condition that the offensive clause 
in her Constitution should never authorize any law by 
which any citizen of any of the States should be excluded 
from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities 
to which such citizen is entitled by the Constitution of the 
United States; and that the Legislature of Missouri should 
by a solemn Act declare their assent to this condition. 
The Legislature passed the Act required, and thereupon the 
State became a member of the Union. Yet Judge Dagget 
is not aware of any Act of Congress recognizing free blacks 
as citizens ! 



44 FREE BLACKS CITIZENS. 

Admit free negroes to be men, and to be born free in 
the United States, and it is impossible to frame even a 
plausible argument against their citizenship. The only ar- 
gument on this point, we have ever met with, in which the 
conclusion is legitimately deduced from the premises, is by 
a late writer,* who maintains that the negroes are a distinct 
race of animals. Now it must be conceded, that the negro, 
if not a human being, is not a citizen. We recommend 
the following reasoning, to the future judicial apologists of 
the Black Act. 

" His" (the negro's) lips are thick — his zygomatic 
muscles large and full — his jaws large and projecting — his 
chin retreating — his forehead low, flat and slanting, and as 
a consequence of this latter character, his eye balls are 
very prominent, apparently larger than those of white men. 
All of these peculiarities at the same time contributing to 
reduce his facial angle almost to a level with the brute. 
If then it is consistent with science to believe, that the 
mind will be great in proportion to the size and figure of 
the brain, it is equally reasonable to suppose that the 
acknowledged meanness of the negro's intellect only coin- 
cides with the shape of his head; or in other Words, that his 
want of capability to receive a complicated education, ren- 
ders it improper and impolitic that he should be allowed 
the privileges of citizenship in an enlightened country." 
P. 25, 26. The author is an ultra Colonizationist, and the 
conclusion to which he arrives is, " let the blacks be 
removed, nolens volens, from among us." 

We have dwelt the longer on the Connecticut decision, 
on account of its immense importance to a numerous class 
of our fellow countrymen. The victims of a cruel preju- 
dice, and of wicked laws, they especially claimed the aid 
and sympathy of the humane, when striving to elevate them- 
selves by the acquisition of useful knowledge. But Judge 
Dagget's doctrine crushes them to the earth. Denounced 
by a powerful Society, extending its influence over every 
part of our country as " Nuisances," and judicially declared 
not to be citizens, they are delivered over to the tormentors, 

♦The author of "Evidences against the views of the Abolitionists, 
consisting of physical and moral proofs of the natural inferiority of th« 
negroes." New- York, 1833. 



NEW-r iVEN PETITION. 45 

foound hand and foot. If not citizens, they may be dispos- 
sessed of their dwellings, for they cannot legally hold real 
estate — they may be denied the means of a livelihood, and 
forbidden to buy and sell, or to practise any trade, for they 
are no longer protected by the Constitution of the United 
States. Nay, they may be expelled from town to town, 
and from State to State, till finding no resting place for the 
soles of their feet, they '.' consent" to embark for Africa. 

However inconclusive we are disposed to regard Judge 
Dagget's arguments, they were satisfactory to the jury, and 
a verdict was given against Miss Crandall. The cause was 
removed to the Connecticut Court of Errors, where all the 
proceedings were set aside on technical grounds. Certain 
of the " quiet, peaceable, humane, and inoffensive, people 
of Canterbury," tired with the law's delay, determined on 
ejecting the school by a summary process, and accordingly 
mobbed the house by night, and smashed in the windows. 
It was now discovered, that it was the "persons" of inoffen- 
sive females, and not of Mr. Judson and his associates, that 
were endangered, and the school was abandoned, and thus 
were the efforts of the admirers of " the benevolent system of 
Colonization" crowned with entire success. 

Soon after Judge Dagget's decision, a most inflamma- 
tory petition to the Connecticut legislature, was circulated 
in New-Haven. We quote from a printed copy. " If 
they (the negroes) have rights, we humbly hope it is not 
yet too late to presume that the white man also, the only 
legal native American citizen, whom we shall ever consent 
to acknowledge, may be permitted to suggest that he has 
some rights. — If he (the white man) purchases a piece of 
land, the first negro, who locates near him, deteriorates its 
value from '20 to 50 per cent. ; for who will have a negro 
neighborhood, or live in unceasing fear of theft and tres- 
passes. The white man cannot labor upon equal terms with 
the negro — he is compelled to yield the market to the Afri- 
can, and with his family ultimately becomes the tenant of 
an Alms-house, or is driven from the State to seek a better 
lot in the western wilds. Thus have thousands of our 
most valuable citizens been banished from home and kin- 
dred, for the accommodation of the most debased race that 
the civilized world has ever seen." The petitioners, as 

5 



46 COMPULSORY EMIGRATION. 

might be supposed, are Colonizationists. " If the negro 
cannot consistently with our interest or our feelings be 
admitted to the same rights that we enjoy, let him seek a 
country where he will find those who are his equals ; let us 
unite in aiding him to reach that country" 

It has never been denied, that good men belong to the 
Colonization Society; and it ought not to be denied, that 
even good men are fallible, and subject to erroneous opinions 
and unwarrantable prejudices. To us it appears unques- 
tionable, that the facts developed in the preceding pages, 
prove a tendency in the Society to excite in the community, 
a persecuting spirit towards the free blacks. That the 
pious, and respectable members of the Society detest the 
horrible outrages, recently committed upon these people in 
New- York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, it would be both 
foolish and wicked to doubt; and yet no one who candidly 
and patiently investigates the whole subject, can fail to be 
convinced that these outrages never would have happened, 
had the Society never existed. The assertion is not ■ 
hazardous, that of the multitudes composing the negro 
mobs, there was not an individual, less disposed than the 
Canterbury town meeting, to laud the " benevolent Colo- 
nization system." Every wretch who participated in beat- 
ing, and plundering free negroes, would rejoice in their 
expulsion from the country, and in the Society he beholds 
an instrument for the accomplishment of his wishes. 

But how is it possible that the best and the worst of 
men, can unite in supporting the same institution, with 
views and motives diametrically opposite? In the first 
place, these good men, as is abundantly evident from their 
own confessions, as we shall show more particularly here- 
after, are under the influence of very strong prejudices 
against the colored race, and are seeking in their scheme 
of Colonization not merely the good of the blacks, but 
their own gratification, and supposed interests, and in 
many instances, personal safety ; In the second place, 
there are in the constitution, three talismanic words, 
which through the influence of existing prejudices have 
blinded the eyes of these good men to the practical opera- 
tion of the Society on the colored people. The words are 
" with their consent." It is speciously argued, if the 



COMPULSORY EMIGRATION. 47 

free blacks consent to go to Africa, why not send them? 
if they do not wish to go, they are at liberty to remain. 
This argument seems for the most part, to have benumbed 
the consciences and understandings of Colonizationists, as 
to the cruel persecution which their Society necessarily 
encourages. They would be horrified at the idea of their 
agents scouring the country, and seizing men, women, and 
children, placing them on the rack, till as joint after joint 
was dislocated, the suffering wretches consented to go to 
Africa ; and yet the Society feels no compunction in coun- 
tenancing legal oppression, having the same ultimate object 
in view, and in transporting negroes whose consent they 
well know, has been extorted by the most abominable per- 
secution. Many will feel disposed to deny the truth of these 
assertions; but not we trust, after seeing the proof of them, 
which we will now proceed to offer. 

We have already adverted to the cruel laws by which 
these people are oppressed, and kept, purposely kept in 
ignorance and degradation. Now let it be recollected, that 
with but few exceptions, these laws have been either 
enacted, or are kept in force by legislatures, which have 
formally and in their legislative capacity, passed resolutions 
in favor of the Society. Fourteen States have thus avowed 
their attachment to Colonization. Now had these States, 
including Connecticut, Ohio, and several of the slave States, 
repealed their laws against the free blacks, and forborne to 
enact new ones ; their sincerity in approving a plan for the 
removal of these people with their consent would have been 
less questionable, than it is now, when they persist in a 
course of policy well calculated to coerce that consent. 
The Society appears to be a particular favorite with the 
slave States, with the exception of South-Carolina, where 
its true character seems to have been misunderstood. 

Now hear the acknowledgment of a Southern writer. 
We have before us the fourth edition, 1834, of "A Trea- 
tise on the Patriarchal System of Society :" by a Florida 
slave holder. It is a treatise, in sober earnestness, on the 
means of perpetuating slavery, and increasing its profits. 
The author says, p. VZ — ' Colonization in Africa has been 
proposed to the free colored people : to forioard v)hich, a 
general system of persecution against them, upheld from 



48 



COMPULSORY EMIGRATION. 



the pulpit, has been legalized throughout the Southern 
States." The writer does not explain his allusion to the 
Southern pulpit; but we may judge of its influence on the 
condition of the free blacks, from the avowal already 
quoted from the Southern Religious Telegraph, of its 
repugnance to these people being taught to read, because 
such an acquirement would be an inducement with them 
to remain in this country ; or, in other words, that the bet- 
ter they were treated here, the less likely would they be to 
consent to go to Africa. 

The Legislatures of Maryland and Virginia, it is well 
known, have made large appropriations for Colonization, 
and yet these Legislatures are among the most malignant 
persecutors of the free blacks. The original bill, making the 
Virginia appropriation, contained a clause for the compul- 
sory transportation of free blacks. Let it be recollected, 
that the Colonization Society has ever been the peculiar 
favorite of Virginia, and that her most distinguished citi- 
zens have been enrolled among its officers ; and let us 
now see how Colonization has been promoted in that 
State. On a motion to strike out the compulsory clause, 
Mr. Brodnax thus expressed himself against the motion : 

" It is idle to talk about not resorting to force. 
Every body must look to the introduction of force of some 
kind or other. If the free negroes are willing to go, they 
will go ; if not willing, they must be comfelled to go. 
Some gentlemen think it politic not now to insert this 
feature in the bill, though they proclaim their readiness to 
resort to it when it becomes necessary ; they think, that, 
for a year or two, a sufficient number will consent to go, 
and then the rest can be compelled. For my part, I 
deem it better to approach the question and settle it at 
once, and avow it openly. The intelligent portion of the 
free negroes know very well what is going on. Will they 
not see your debates ? Will they not see that coercion is 
ultimately to be resorted to. I have already expressed 
it as my opinion, that few, very few, will voluntarily con- 
sent to emigrate, if no compulsory measures he adopted. 
Without it, you will still, no doubt, have applicants for 
removal equal to your means. Yes, sir, people who will 
not only consent, but beg you to deport them. But what 



COMPULSORY EMIGRATION. 49 

sort of consent — a consent extorted by a species of oppres- 
sion, calculated to render their situation among us insup- 
portable ! Many of those who have been already sent off, 
went with their avowed consent, but under the influence 
of a more decided compulsion, than any which this bill 
holds out. I will not express in its fullest extent, the idea 
I entertain of what has been done, or what enormities willbe 
perpetrated to induce this class of persons to leave the 
State. Who does not know that when a free negro, by 
crime or otherwise, has rendered himself obnoxious to a 
neigborhood, how easy it is for a party to visit him one 
night, take him from his bed and family, and apply to 
him the gentle admonition of a severe flagellation, to induce 
him to go away. In a few nights the dose can be re- 
peated, perhaps increased, until, in the language of the 
physicians, quantum snff. has been administered, to produce 
the desired operation, and the fellow becomes perfectly 
willing to move away. L have certainly heard, (if incor- 
rectly, the gentleman from Southampton will put me right) 
that all the large cargo of emigrants, lately transported 
from that county to Liberia, all of whom professed to be 
wil'ing to go, were rendered so by some such ministration as 
I have described. Indeed, sir, all of us look to force of 
some kind or other, direct or indirect, moral or physical, 
legal or illegal." 

Another member, Mr. Fisher, in opposing the motion 
said, " If we wait till the free negroes consent to leave the 
State, we shall wait until time is no more. They never 
will give their consent. He believed if the compulsory 
principle were stricken out, this class would be forced to 
leave by the harsh treatment of the whites." 

The compulsory clause was stricken out, but we have 
the assurance of Mr. Brodnax, that they who objected to it 
at present, were ready to resort to force, whenever it should 
become necessary ; and he tells us, that all look to force 
of some kind or other ; and he might have added, " all of 
us look to the Colonization Society as the instrument by 
which the forcible expulsion of the free negroes is to be 
effected." Nor do they look in vain. At the very time 
that the negroes of Southampton were suffering the barba- 
rities he describes, the managers of the Society addressed 
5* 



50 COMPULSORY EMIGRATION. 

their auxiliaries, urging them to increased efforts in raising 
funds, and alluding to the excitement occasioned by the 
insurrection at Southampton, remarked, " the free people 
of color have awakened from their slumber, to a keen sense 
of their situation, and are ready in large numbers, to emi- 
grate to the Colony of Liberia." Address, 17th Nov. 
1831. 

A large number of these miserable people did indeed 
consent to go to Africa, and the managers well knew how 
their consent was obtained. "I warned the managers 
against this Virginia business," said Mr. Breckenridge in 
his speech before the Society, " and yet they sent out two 
shiploads of vagabonds, not fit to go to such a place, and 
that were coerced away as truly as if it had been done with 
a cartwhip." 

Hear the confession of Mr. Gurley, the Secretary of the 
Society, on this subject — " Our friends at Norfolk appealed 
to us, and said the people were persecuted, and that it was 
a matter of humanity to take them. Our agent said they 
were driven from the county, and had appeafed to him and 
begged to go to Liberia." Speech before the Society. 

Hear the testimony of Thomas C. Brown from Liberia, 
given in May 1834. " I am acquainted with several from 
Southampton County, Virginia, who informed me that they 
received several hundred lashes from the patroles to make 
them willing to go. In one instance a man was several 
times compelled to witness the lashes inflicted on his wife, 
and then to be severely flogged himself. In another instance 
a family received information from their white neighbors, 
that unless they went to Liberia, they should be whipped. 
Having no means of redress they were obliged to go." 

Hear the New- York Colonization Society, when address- 
ing the public — "We say to them (the free blacks) we 
think you may improve your condition by going thither, but 
if you prefer remaining here, you will be protected and 
treated with kindness." Proceedings of Neic-York Col. 
Soc, 1831. 

Hear the same Society, when addressing the Legisla- 
ture — " We do not ask that the provisions of our constitu- 
tion and statute book should be so modified as to relieve and 
exalt the condition of the colored people while they remain 



COMPULSORY EMIGRATION. 51 

with us. Let these provisions stand in all their rigor, to 
work out the ultimate and unbounded good of this people." 
In plain English to coerce their consent to go to Africa. 
Memorial to Neio-York Legislature, 1832. 

We have seen what are the Connecticut and Virginia 
plans for promoting Colonization — now for the Pennsylva- 
nia plan. At a public meeting held in the borough of Co- 
lumbia, (Penn.) at the Town Hall, 23d August, 1834, the 
following among other resolutions were unanimously passed. 

" Resolved that we will not purchase any articles that 
can be procured elsewhere, or give our vote for any office 
whatever, to any one who employs negroes to do that species 
of labor white men have been accustomed to perform. 

"Resolved, that the Colonization Society ought to be 
supported by ajl the citizens favorable to the removal of the 
blacks from this country" 

Here we find the support of the Society avowedly cou- 
pled with a most detestable plan of persecution. And now 
for the practical operation of this meeting of the friends of 
the " benevolent Colonization system." It appears from a 
Columbia paper, that one or two nights after the meeting, a 
mob collected, and partly tore down the dwelling of a black 
man ; they then proceeded to the office of another black 
man, who had had the presumption to deal in lumber, " a 
species of laborwfoYe men had been accustomed to perform," 
broke open the windows and door, rifled the desk, scattered 
the papers in the street, and attempted to overturn the build- 
ing. Surely the Society may reasonably anticipate the 
consent of the blacks to emigrate, when in Connecticut, 
Pennsylvania, and Virginia such cogent arguments are used 
to obtain it. Were the Society governed as it ought to be, 
by Christian principles, it would shrink from encouraging 
persecution by accomplishing its object, the exportation of 
its victims. It would say explicitly to the authors of these 
atrocities, " you shall gain nothing by your cruelty, through 
our instrumentality ; we will not encourage your farther 
persecutions, by removing those whose consent you have 
obtained by such unjustifiable means ; we will not to please 
you, 

" Keep the word of promise to the ear, •' 

And break it to the hope." 



52 COMPULSORY EMIGRATION. 

But alas, it has virtually given official notice, that it will 
transport all whose consent can be obtained, no matter by 
what barbarity. Hear the declaration of Mr. Gurley, the 
Secretary of the Society. 

" Should they (the free blacks,) be urged by any stress 
of circumstances to seek an asylum beyond the limits of 
the United States, humanity and religion will alike dictate 
that they should be assisted to remove and establish them- 
selves in freedom and prosperity in the land of their choice." 
Letter to gentlemen in New- York. 

True it is the free blacks have been rendered by preju- 
dice and persecution, an ignorant and degraded class; but 
they have retained sufficient intelligence to comprehend the 
practical character of Colonization philanthropy. 

The following resolutions passed by a meeting of free 
blacks in New-Bedford in 1832, express the unanimous 
opinion of all their brethren who have intelligence to 
form, or courage to express an opinion on the subject. 

" Resolved that in whatever light we view the Coloniza- 
tion Society, we discover nothing in it but terror, prejudice 
and oppression. The warm and beneficent hand of philan- 
thropy is not apparent in the system, but the influence of 
the Society on public opinion is more prejudicial to the in- 
terests and welfare of the people of color in the United 
States, than slavery itself. 

" Kesolved that the Society, to effect its purpose, the re- 
moval of free people of color (not the slaves) through its 
agents, teaches the public to believe that it is patriotic and 
benevolent to withhold from us, knowledge and the means 
of acquiring subsistence; and to look upon us as unnatural 
and illegal residents in this country, and thus by the force 
of prejudice, if not by law, endeavor to compel us to em- 
bark for Africa, and that too apparently by our own free- 
will and consent." 

And now let us ask what purpose is to be answered by 
persecuting this people, and keeping them ignorant and de- 
graded 1 Does any one believe that they will ever be re- 
moved from the country ? They now amount to 362,000. 
In 16 years, 2, 162 have been sent away, some at first volun- 
tarily, but many of them through coercion. But can cruelty, 
be it ever so extreme, furnish the Society with funds and 



SLAVE TRADE. 53 

ships sufficient to transport such a multitude ? They must, 
in spite of Connecticut and Virginia persecution remain 
with us. And if they are to remain with us, what conduct 
towards them, do policy and religion prescribe? Conduct 
precisely opposite to that pursued by the Society. We 
must instruct and elevate them, if we would not be incum- 
bered by an ignorant and depraved population, we must 
treat them with justice and kindness if we would avoid the 
displeasure of him who has declared " Ye shall not oppress 
one another." 



CHAPTER III. 

Influence of the Colonization Society on Africa— Suppression of the 
Slave Trade. 

Very many, who now despair of extirpating slavery 
by means of the Society, continue to support it, from a 
belief that it will confer rich blessings on Africa. These 
anticipated blessings are the suppression of the slave trade, 
and the diffusion of religion and civilization. Let us at 
present inquire, how far the first may reasonably be ex- 
pected. 

In the declarations of the Society, and its members on 
this subject, we shall find an astonishing medley of igno- 
rance, rash assertion, and honest confession. 

" Sierra Leone has repaid Africa with still greater bless- 
ings ; her example, her influence and efforts, have given 
peace and security to the neighboring coast ; and who can 
estimate the extent of misery prevented, and of happiness 
conferred, to a population delivered from all the horrors of 
the slave trade." Fifth Rep. p. 18. 

" The line of coast from Sierra Leone to Cape Mount, 
is now under British protection ; and from Cape Mount 
to Tradetown, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, 
the slave trade cannot be prosecuted with the least hope of 
success." Af. Rep. II. p. 125 — Editorial. 

" Every colony of civilized inhabitants, established on 



54 SLAVE TRADE. 

that coast, and resolved to stop this trade to the extent of 
its means, will, at all events, put an end to it for a consi- 
derable distance. The colonies of Sierra Leone, and of 
Liberia, both produce this effect within their respective 
vicinities." Judge Blackford's Address to Indiana Colo- 
nization Society. Af. Rep. VI. p. 66. 

It would seem from the following, that the truth of 
these compliments to Sierra Leone is at least questionable. 

" The acting Attorney General of Sierra Leone de- 
clared in 1812, on the trial of certain persons, for the infrac- 
tion of the British abolition laws, that the town of Sierra 
Leone was 'the heart from which all the arteries and veins 
of the slave-trading system had for years been animated 
and supplied.' " Dr. Thorpe 's view of the present increase 
of the slave trade, p. 71. 

We shall have occasion to refer again to the connection 
of this colony with the slave trade; but now for Liberia. 

" In fact, the Colonization Society proposes the only 
means by which this accursed trade can ever be effectually 
stopped ; and, indeed, the Colony of Liberia, which this 
Society has planted, has already freed about two hundred 
and fifty miles of that coast from the ravages of these ene- 
mies of the human race." Address of J. A. McKinney, 4 th 
July, 1830 Af. Rep. VI. p. 231. 

" The flag that waves on Cape Montserado, proclaims 
to the slave trader, that there is one spot, even in Africa, 
consecrated t»> freedom one spot which his polluted foot 
shall aot tread" Speech of G. Smith, V. Prest. 13th 
Jan. 1831. 1 4th Rep. 

" Did we desire to put an end to these outrages upon 
humanity, (the slave trade) the Colonization Society oilers 
itself as the only efficient means. The slaver has dared 
to show herself but once within the limits of Liberia, and 
then she received the rewards of her temerity." Proceed- 
ings of N. Y. Col. Soc. 1832. 

*' No slaver now dares come within one hundred miles 
of the settlement" Rev. Dr. Hatches' Speech at Col. 
Meeting in New-York, Oct. 1833. 

The above are specimens of the assertions which have 
been rashly made, and credulously received. Let us now 
attend to the honest confessions on this subject, and let the 



SLAVE TRADE. 55 

reader compare them with the foregoing assertions. That 
these confessions may be better understood, it may be 
well to mention, that the territory of Liberia commences 
at Gallinas River, and extends about two hundred and 
eighty miles southwardly along the coast, and embraces 
Cape iMontserado, Cape Mount, Tradetown and Bushrod 
Island. 

" The records of the colony afford abundant and unequi- 
vocal testimony of the undiminished extent and atrocity of 
the slave trade. From eight to ten, and even fifteen vessels 
have engaged at the same time in this odious traffick, almost 
within reach of the guns of Liberia, and as late as July 
1825, there were existing contracts for eight hundred 
slaves to be furnished in the short space of four months, 

WITHIN EIGHT MILES OF MONROVIA." Rep. X. p. 44, 

1827. 

" From all I can learn, I am induced to believe, that 
the slave trade is now carried on at the Gallinas, between 
Cape Mount and Sierra Leone, and to the leeward of this 
place, to a greater extent than it has been for many years." 
Letter from R. Randall, Agent at Liberia, 28th Dec. 1828. 
Af Rep. V. p. 4. 

" Frequently within sight of the colonial factories, 
the slave traders carry on their operations. The slave 
trade never has been carried on with more activity, than it 
is at this time. There is established at Gallinas, a regular 
slave agent, who furnishes slaves to the slave vessels. He 
receives his goods from trading vessels, and it is said prin- 
cipally from an American vessel. He purchases large 
numbers of slaves, and furnishes the slave vessels, who 
principally bring out specie. These vessels run up and 
down the coast until a convenient opportunity offers, when 
they run in and get their cargoes of slaves. Some of 
them are captured, and I have been informed, they have 
been bought afterwards by their original owners, and that 
the same vessel has frequently been bought and sold seve- 
ral times." Letter from R. Randall, Agent at Liberia, 
Feb. 1829. Af. Rep. V. p. 148. The same letter states 
the astounding fact, that " Mamma, the proprietress of 
Bushrod Island, just in front of Monrovia, whose town is 
not more than a quarter of a mile from our settlements on 



56 SLAVE TRADE. 

that island," was engaged in the slave trade, and had sold 
several hundred, p. 150. 

11 It is painful to state, that the managers have reason 
to believe that the slave trade is still prosecuted to a great 
extent, and with circumstances of undiminished atrocity. 
The fact that much was done by Mr. Ashmun to banish it 
from the territory, under the colonial jurisdiction, is un- 
questionably true, but it now exists even on the territory, 
and a little to the north and south of Liberia, it is seen in its 
true characters of fraud, and rapine, and blood." Rep. 
XIII. p. 13.— 1830. 

Now, be it recollected, that it was after this official an- 
nunciation by the Board of Managers, that the slave trade 
existed even on the territory of Liberia, that the African 
Repository published without contradiction the vaunt of 
Mr. McKinney already quoted, that the Colony had freed 
about two hundred and fifty miles of the coast of the slave 
trade ! 

" I hope the Board will adopt some more effectual 
measures for suppressing the slave trade within the territory 
of Liberia. Since the death of Don Miguel of Bassa, 
Peter Blanco, a Spanish slave trader, for some years a 
resident in the Gallinas, has opened a slave factory at 
Grand Cape Mount. Such a thing ought not to be, as it 
is only forty-five miles from here. I am sorry to remark, that 
this abominable traffick is carried on with the utmost activi- 
ty, all along the coast. Capt. Parker, during his trading 
at the Gallinas of about three weeks, saw no less than 
nine hundred shipped." Letter from A. D. Williams, 
Agent of the Society at Liberia, — 10th Sept. 1830. Af. 
Rep. VI. p. 275. 

" With undiminished atrocity and activity is this 
odious traffick now carried on all along the African coast, 
slave factories are established in the immediate vicinity of 
the colony;' &c. Rep. XIV. p. 11.— 1831. 

" The cursed practice of slave trading, I regret to say, 
is still carried on between this and Sierra Leone." Letter 
of Rev. Mr. Cox ; Monrovia, 8th of April, 1833. Af 
Rep. IX. p. 252. 

Such are the refutations furnished by the Society 
itself, of all its boasts about suppressing the slave trade j 



SLAVE TRADE. 57 

and yet we are told that the Society is the only means of 
putting an end to the traffick ! 

It seems never to occur to these gentlemen, that the 
abolition of slavery would, as a matter of course, put an 
immediate and total stop to the traffick !* But on what 
grounds do they expect they can suppress the trade 1 By 
planting colonies of ignorant and depraved negroes on the 
African coast? Every slave factory is of itself a colony, 
and for the most part, of intelligent white men ; and yet it 
is supposed, that negro colonists, who, when in America, 
were " the most depraved of the human race," will be too 
virtuous to yield to the temptations of a lucrative com- 
merce. Why, let us ask, should the free negroes of Ameri- 
ca, who Mr. Clay assures us, are " of all descriptions of our 
population, the most corrupt, depraved, and abandoned," 
have, when removed to Liberia, a greater abhorrence for 
the iniquity of the slave trade, than their brethren of Sierra 
Leone' If the slave trade has been actually promoted by 
the latter colony, why will it be suppressed by the former? 

The following facts are gathered from documents 
published by the British Parliament in 1832. Chief Jus- 
tice Jeffcott of Sierra Leone, in 1830, delivered a charge 
to the Grand Jury, in which he declared that he had 
received credible information, that persons in the colony 
were engaged in aiding and abetting the slave trade, and 
fitting out ships for the trade. He asserted, that the 
colony " established lor the express purpose of suppressing 
this vile traffick, was made a mart for carrying it on." He 
also stated, that within the last ten years, twenty-two thou- 
sand Africans had been located in the colony by the British 
Government, at an expense'of nearly seven millions sterling, 
and that now there are not to be found in the colony 
above seventeen or eighteen thousand men ! These extra- 
ordinary and appalling declarations, attracted the atten- 
tion of the British Government, who appointed a Commis- 
sion to inquire into their truth. The Commissioners in 

*To what extent the importation of slaves into the United States 
is now carried, we ar^ ignorant. In 1819. Mr. Middleton of South- 
Carolina, stated on the floor of Congress, that, in his opinion, 13,000 
Africans were annually smuggled into the Southern States. Mr. 
Wright of Virginia, estimated the numher at 15,000. 

6 



58 SLAVE TRADE. 

their report, dated 26th October of the same year, state 
that, from the testimony taken before them, " they cannot 
but conclude, that the nefarious system of kidnapping has 
prevailed in this colony to a mvch greater extent, than was 
even alluded to in the charge of the Chief Justice." From 
the testimony published with the report, it appears that the 
slave vessels are in the habit of bringing out specie, for the 
purchase of supplies on the coast; and that " Mr. Hilary 
Teague, who resides at the American settlement at Liberia, 
at Cape Mesurado, near the Gallinas, and who trades be- 
tween that place (Gallinas, a slave factory) and Sierra Le- 
one, purchasing some goods from a Mr. Lake, a merchant 
in the colony, produced a bag containing about one thou- 
sand dollars, on which was marked the name of the 
Spanish schooner Manzanares. This vessel took in her 
cargo at the Gallinas, and was subsquently condemned as a 
slave ship." 

Here we find a colonist of Liberia, trading at a slave 
factory, and afterwards exhibiting $1000 in specie, receiv- 
ed in all human probability from a slave ship. It is surely 
unreasonable to suppose, that petty colonial merchants 
will refuse to sell supplies to slave ships for specie. Indeed 
every new colony on the coast, will, while slavery contin- 
ues, give new facilities to this accursed commerce ; nor 
can the government at home, prevent avaricious and 
unprincipled colonists from participating in it. No one 
can question the desire of Great Britain to purge Sierra 
Leone of this enormity, and yet we find the following 
statement in the English Monthly Quarterly Review, for 
May, J 833. " One of the Schoolmasters in Sierra Leone, 
has been tried for selling some of his scholars. There 
were lately upwards of one hundred liberated Africans, 
who were kidnapped from Sierra Leone, and were conveyed 
to a place near the banks of the river Pongos. Here they 
were detained, till an opportunity occurred of re-shipping 
them as slaves." 



INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY ON AFRICA. 59 



CHAPTER IV. 

Influence of the Colonization Society on Africa— Diffusion of Civiliza- 
tion and Christianity. 

Although the Society is not a missionary institution, 
builds no churches, employs no ministers, and distributes 
no Bibles or tracts, yet it has persuaded the public, that 
Liberia is a missionary establishment, and the radiating 
point, from which a flood of light and holiness is to spread 
over Africa. So confidently and constantly has the mis- 
sionary influence of the Society been asserted, that many 
of the members unfeignedly believe it ; and their contribu- 
tions are lavished, and their prayers are offered for the 
regeneration of Africa by emigrants, who, when in the 
United States, were denounced as " a curse and contagion 
wherever they reside." Let us attend to the stupendous 
objects the Society proposes to accomplish. 

" It would illuminate a continent. It would publish 
the name of Christ on the dark mountains of Africa, and 
the burning sands of the desert. It would kindle up holi- 
ness and hope among uncounted tribes, whose souls are 
as black with crime and misery, as are the forms of matter 
that veil them." Af Rep. I. 164, Editorial. * 

" The little band at Liberia, who are spreading over 
the wilderness around them, a strange aspect of lite and 
beauty, are in every sense a missionary station. Every 
ship freighted from our shores with their suffering kindred, 
will be freighted also with the heralds of the cross. You 
will see the light breaking in upon one and another dark 
habitation of cruelty. The night of heathenism will depart. 
One tribe after another will come to the light of Zion, and 
the brightness of her rising. Ethiopia will awake and rise 
from the dust, and look abroad on the day and stretch forth 
her hand to God. The light will spread and kindle and 
brighten till all the fifty millions of Africa are brought 
to the glorious liberty of the sons of God." Address to 
the Kentucky Col. Society by Mr. Breckenridge. 

" They (the emigrants) go to unchain millions of 
slaves fettered in the bondage of death." Af. Rep. IX. JOS. 

" Like the star in the East, which announced the 



60 CHARACTER OF THE COLONY. 



Saviour to the astonished Magi, it (the Society) points to 
the advent of the same Redeemer, coming in the power of 
his spirit to roll away the darkness of a thousand genera- 
tions." Speech of Mr. Frelinghuysen, Vice President. 

11 This Society proposes to add another regenerated 
continent to our globe, and one hundred and fifty 
millions to the family of civilized man." Speech of 
Elliot Cresson before the Society. Af Rep. IX. 360. 

The number of Agents to be employed, are proportion- 
ed to the mighty work to be achieved. 

" The Society proposes to send out not one or two pious 
members of Christianity into a foreign land, but to trans- 
port annually, for an indefinite number of years in one view 
of its scheme, 6,000, in another 56,000 missionaries of the 
descendants of Africa itself, to communicate the benefits of 
our religion and the arts." Mr. Clay's speech before Ken- 
tucky Col. Society. Af. Rep. VI. 24. 

It will be observed that these missionaries are to commu- 
nicate the benefits of both religion and the arts, and they 
are to be taken from two classes. The 6,000 are to be the 
annual increase of the free ne.roes; the 56,000 are to be 
manumitted slaves. The character of the first class is thus 
given by Mr. Clay, in the same speech in which he propo- 
ses their employment : 

" Of all descriptions of our population, and of cither 
portion of the African race, the free people of color are by 
far as a class, the most corrupt, depraved, and abandoned." 
As this seems rather an unpromising character for teachers 
of religion, we presume this portion are to be confined to 
instruction in the arts,; and that the explanation of religious 
mysteries, and the inculcation of moral duties, are to be 
entrusted to the 56,000 just released from bondage. Of 
the peculiar opportunities afforded them by the laws of the 
slave States, for fitting themselves for their new vocation, 
■we may speak hereafter. Of this " great company of 
preachers," about three thousand have already set up their 
tabernacle at Liberia. We might naturally suppose, that 
a colony of missionaries would be " a holy city," a sort of 
New Jerusalem, and such we are assured it is. We have 
heard of " the poetry of philanthropy," as applied to the 
sympathy expressed by abolitionists for the sufferings of the 



CHARACTER OP THE COLONY. 61 

slaves ; the following extracts prove, that there is a poetry 
of Colonization which 

" Can give to airy nothing 
A local habitation and a name." 

" It (the colony) is already to the African tribes, like a 
city set upon a bill, which cannot be hid. A thousand 
barbarians, who have long made merchandize of their 
brethren, and been regarded themselves as the objects of a 
bloody and accursed traffick, come within its gates, and are 
taught the doctrine of immortality , — the religion of the Son 
of God." Af Rep. VIII. p. 14,-1825. 

Here we have a solemn and official annunciation by the 
Board of Managers, of one of the most extraordinary facts 
ever recorded in the annals of missionary exertions. It 
appears from official documents, that at the date of this 
report, the whole number of emigrants could not have been 
more than 242, and had probably been reduced by death 
below that number; and of this number, a large portion 
were of course, women and children. Yet this little band 
of Christian missionaries, just escaped from the ignorance 
and vice in which they had been enveloped in America, 
and still struggling for existence in a sickly climate, and 
amid all the hardships and privations of a recent settlement 
in a savage land ; casting aside the fear of man, and with 
a faith almost miraculous in divine protection, admit within 
their gates an army of barbarians, four times the number of 
the whole of their little community ; barbarians too, who 
had long been engaged in a bloody and accursed traffick, 
making merchandize of their brethren; and ihese barba- 
rians suddenly divested of their savage character, sit hum- 
bly at the feet of the newly arrived messengers of Heaven, 
and the natives of Africa, receive instruction in the doctrine 
of immortality, and the religion of the Son of God, from 
lips that had never uttered any other language, than broken 
English ! It is singular that in the subsequent documents of 
the Society, we hear nothing farther of these thousand bar- 
barians. How many became converts to the religion in 
which they were instructed ; how long their attendance on 
the missionaries was continued, and why it was afterwards 

6* 



62 CHARACTER OF THE COLONY. 

totally suspended, are points on which no information has 
been vouchsafed to us. 

It is natural we should wish to know more of these 
wonderful teachers, and fortunately we are presented with 
the following picture of them by an eye witness. 

" The holy Author of our religion and salvation, has 
made the hearts of a large proportion of these people, the 
temples of the divine Spirit. I have seen the proudest and 
profanest foreigners that ever visited the colony, trembling 
with amazement and conviction, almost literally in the 
descriptive phraseology of St. Paul, find the secrets of their 
hearts made manifest, and falling down upon their faces, 
worship God, and report that God is in the midst of these 
people of a truth." Ashmun's letter, 31st. December, 1825. 
Af. Rep. II. 90. 

We should certainly conclude from these accounts, that 
these holy men were blessed with 

' : Composed desires, aft'ections ever even, 
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heaven." 

Yet strange to tell, we are presented with the following 
perplexing statement, by the same eye witness : 

" About twelve months since it (the colony) had entirely 
given way, as the committee are but too well apprised, to a 
blind and furious excitement of the worst passions, caused 
by a somewhat unfortunate policy operating on ignorance 
and invincible prejudice During my absence ibr health, 
the people were obliged to taste some of the bitter fruits of 
anarchy, and by the singular mercy of God. only escaped 
those tragedies of blood, which can find no modern parallel, 
but in the history of the civil murders and devastations of 
St. Domingo." Ashmun's letter, loth January, 1825. Af. 
Rep. I. 23. 

The excitement here alluded to, and its unhappy con- 
sequences occurred, it will be seen by a comparison of 
dates, in 1S24; and that wonderful moral change, which 
rendered the hearts of a large proportion of these people 
the temples of the Divine Spirit, must have been effected 
in 1825. Yet it was in the beginning of 1825, that the 
managers announced at their annual meeting at Washington, 



CHARACTER OF THE COLONY. 63 

the marvellous fact of the instruction of the thousand 
barbarians within the gates of the colony. 

Jn March, 1825, the Editor of the Af. Rep., gives us 
the following delightful intelligence: 

" The eye of the stranger is struck with the religious 
aspect of the settlement. He beholds on Cape Montserado, 
standing in lonely beauty, a Christian village. There flou- 
rish the virtues of the gospel, defended by the Almighty, 
from the influences of paganism, cherished and refreshed 
by the dews of his grace." Af. Rep. I. 5. 

"The secret of this surprising exhibition of Christian love- 
liness and purity, is thus explained. 

" It is well known that this little community is made up 
of selected individuals, and that the Board have ever re- 
quired of those seeking their patronage, satisfactory evidence 
that their morals were pure, and their habits industrious. 
Hence this settlement has from its origin exhibited great 
decency and sobriety, respect for the Sabbath, and the 
other peculiar duties and ordinances of our religion. It has 
thus shed a benign and sacred light upon the heathen, and 
the feeling- of the profane and lawless stranger as he tieads 
upon Cape Montserado are suhdued into unwonted serious- 
ness." Af Rep. IX. p. 19. 1826. 

But again we are perplexed, by the assertion of the 
Governor of the Colony. 

" For at least two years to come, a much more discrimi- 
nating selection of settlers mustbemade than ever has been 
— even in the first and second expeditions by the Elizabeth 
and Nautilus in 1820 and 1822 — or the prosperity of the 
colony will inevitably and rapidly decline." Ashmun's let- 
ter 3d March 1828. Af Rep. IV. 86. 

In the 11th Report, the managers assure us: 
" No village perhaps in our own land exhibits less which 
is offensive, and more that is gratifying to the eye of the 
Christian, than the village of Monrovia. Crimes are almost 
unknown, and the universal respect manifested for the Sab- 
bath, and the various institutions and duties of Christianity 
have struck the natives with surprise, and excited the admi- 
ration of foreigners." Af Rep. XI. p. 14, 1828. 

But how are we to reconcile this, with the following 
statements? 



64 CHARACTER OP THE COLONY. 

" Permit me to say, sir, there must be a great revolu- 
tion in this colony, before it can have a salutary influence 
on the surrounding natives ; that is, before it can have a 
moral influence over them." Letter from Rev. G. M. 
Erskine, 3d April, 1830. Af. Rep. VI. 121. 

" We stand in much need of a work house, and some 
acres of land enclosed, for confining licentious females and 
other disorderly and lazy persons." Letter from A. D. 
Williams, Agent, 10th Sep. 1830. Af Rep. VI. 275. 

" There are several enterprising merchants here — It is 
not however, a favorable spot for small storekeepers and 
wandering pedlars, who I am told, generally become stript 
of what they may have got, and in wandering about in the 
interior for small traffick, disgust the natives by their immo- 
ralities." Letter from Lieut. Page to Sec. of Navy, 9th 
April, 1832. Af Rep. VIII. 141. 

" With respect to the character of the people composing 
this expedition, I regret to be compelled to state, that they 
are, with the exception of the Pages from Virginia, and a 
few others, the lowest and most abandoned of their class. 
Our respectable colonists themselves, are becoming alarmed 
at the great number of ignorant and abandoned characters 
that have arrived here within the last twelve months." Let- 
ter from Dr. Mechlin, Agent, Sept. 1832. Af. Rep. VIII. 
298. 

" Let them (the friends of the Society in A merica) know, 
that to extend knowledge and promote sound piety, a quire of 
paper is at the present moment of more worth than a Bible. 
Bibles and Tracts have been sent here, and either used as 
waste paper, or made food for worms — why? Not because 
the people despise either, but because we have not a read- 
ing population. Until this is secured, Bibles would be of 
more value in China. Letter from Rev. J. B. Pinney t 
Agent, 7th March, 1834. 

" On the 17th June, 1833, Mr. Gurley, Secretary of the 
Society, in a speech at a Colonization meeting in New- York, 
hazarded the following most extraordinary assertion, " ten 
thousand natives had placed themselves under the protec- 
tion of the colony, receiving from it, instruction in civiliza- 
tion." 

The Society at its annual meeting 20th January, 1834, 



CHARACTER OF THE COLONY. 65 

unanimously " Resolved that this Society is cheered in its 
enterprise by the beneficent effects which its operations have 
upon the natives of Africa itself/' Af. Rep. IX. 360. 

On the 20th February, 1834, the Kev. Mr. Pinney,now 
governor of Liberia, thus writes from the colony. 

" The colonists are very ignorant of every thing about 
the interior. Except the tribes along the coast, nothing at all 
is known, and of them, little but their manner of trafhck. 
Nothing has been done for the natives hitherto by the Colo- 
nists, except to educate a few, who were in their families in 
the capacity of servants." Mr. Pinney appears not to have 
been acquainted witn the fact, that " a thousand barbarians" 
had been taught the doctrine of immortality within the gates 
of the colony, or that " ten thousand natives" had received 
instruction in civilization ! 

Had any Missionary Society been guilty of such extrava- 
gant anticipations and such gross and palpable contradic- 
tions, the whole community would have joined in loading 
it with ridicule and odium. 

It is deeply to be regretted, that some distinguished 
Colonizationists, have of late attempted to lead the public 
to hope, that in future no emigrants but such as are of good 
moral character, will be permitted to go to Liberia. It is 
difficult to reconcile such an attempt with moral rectitude, 
unless it be accompanied with a total and avowed abandon- 
ment of Colonization as a means of relieving the country 
from the nuisance of a free colored population, and from 
the guilt and curse of slavery. Of the gross inconsistency, 
(not to use a harsher term) of Colonizationists on this sub- 
ject, the proceedings of a Colonization meeting in Cincin- 
nati, Oct. 31, 1834, afford a striking example. On motion 
of the Rev. Dr. Beecher, the following resolution was 
unanimously adopted "Resolved that the establishment 
of colonies in Africa, by the selection of colored persons 
who are moral, industrious and temperate, is eminently cal- 
culated of itself to advance the cause of civilization and re- 
ligion among the benighted native population of that conti- 
nent; as well as to afford facilities to the various Missionary 
Societies for the prosecution of their pious designs." 

This resolution would be utterly without point or meaning 
were it not laudatory of the plans of the Colonizaion Society ; 



OO OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY FORBID. 

and no person of common intelligence would conjecture from 
the resolution, that the " selection" mentioned in it, was 
utterly at variance with, and directly opposed to the avowed 
objects of the Society. Slavery in our country cannot be 
abolished by Colonization, without removing more than two 
millions of slaves ; and how is it possible to remove this 
number, and yet select for colonists only " the moral, indus- 
trious and temperate ?" Nevertheless, the meeting " Re- 
solved that the friends of humanity and the friends of God, 
should cherish the Colonization Society, because of its in- 
fluence to abolish slavery, and advance the best interests 
of the African race." 

Pages might be quoted to show that the professed ulti- 
mate object of the Society, is to remove the whole colored 
population to Africa, without any selection whatever. In 
1824, a Committee of the Board, in an official report de- 
clared, that the national interests " required that the ichole 
mass of free persons of color, and those who may become 
such with the consent of their owners, should be progres- 
sively removed from us, as fast as their own consent can 
be obtained, and as the means can be found for their re- 
moval and lor their proper establishment in Africa." Af. 
Rep.Vll. p. 113. 

" But the Colonization Society hopes for and aims at 
much more — the abolition of slavery, and the removal of 
all the black people from the United States." Proceed- 
ijigs of Nciv-York Col. Soc. 2nd Anniversary. 

We have remarked that expediency is unhappily the 
governing principle of the Society, and to this principle 
must be attributed the recent talk about select emigrants. 

Funds are low, and temperance is popular, and all 
at once we hear that the colonies in Liberia are to be 
temperance colonies ; and that the emigrants are to be 
"moral, industrious, and temperate." And so we are 
to send the good negroes away, and keep the bad at 
home ! And yet, by transporting the kw moral, industri- 
ous, and temperate individuals that can be selected in a 
vicious and ignorant population of between two and three 
millions, we are to abolish slavery ! ! Surely Coloniza- 
tionists, by holding such language pay but a poor com- 
pliment to their own candor, or the common sense of the 



A SELECTION OF EMIGRANTS. 67 

community. The truth is there never has been, and never 
will be a selection made. The two last cargoes sent by 
the Society, were by the public confession of Mr. Brecken- 
ridge " two cargoes of vagabonds." Will it be pretended 
that all the coercion exerted to induce the blacks to emi- 
grate, operates only on the good ; or that it is the drunk- 
en and profligate who find favor in the eyes of the friends 
of Colonization, and are permitted to remain in peace and 
quietness at home ! 

The Society itself has borne abundant testimony to the 
depravity of the free blacks, and all Colonizationists with 
scarcely an exception zealously maintain that the slaves 
are unfit for freedom ; and yet as we have seen, it is pro- 
posed to transport them all to Africa. And now we would 
ask, on what principle of common sense, on what record 
of experience does the Society expect that a population 
which in a land of Bibles and churches, is sunk in vice and 
ignorance, will, when landed on the shores of Africa, and 
immersed in all the darkness of paganism, become on a 
sudden, a Christian society, and employed in teaching 
thousands of barbarians " the doctrine of immortality, the 
religion of the Son of God !" 

Pious Colonizationists would themselves be shocked at 
the proposal of disgorging on the islands of the Pacific the 
tenants of our prisons, under the pretext of instructing the 
natives in " religion and the arts ;" and yet they flatter 
themselves, that emigrants, who, by their own showing are 
less intelligent, and scarcely less guilty than our prisoners, 
will by undergoing a salt water baptism, land in Africa 
wholly regenerated; and qualified as heralds of the cross, to 
convert millions and millions to the faith of the Gospel. 
So monstrous an absurdity, can be the offspring only of a 
deep and sinful prejudice. Hatred to the blacks can alone 
delude us into the belief that in banishing them from 
our soil, we are doing God service. Were it not for this 
hatred, we should feel and acknowledge, that Christianity 
must be propagated in Africa, as elsewhere, by faithful and 
enlightened missionaries. If the climate or other circum- 
stances require that such missionaries be of African de- 
scent, it is our duty to educate them, before we send them. 
But alas, instead of educating negroes, we wish to keep 



68 CHARACTER OF SIERRA LEONE. 

them in ignorance, and yet pretend that our nuisances will, 
in Africa, be converted into blessings. But if Coloniza- 
tionists are so perverse as to believe that a bitter fountain 
will send forth sweet waters, let them contemplate the fol- 
lowing picture of Sierra Leone, drawn by a devoted friend 
of the Society. 

"Including the suburbs of the town, (Free Town) 
there are some six or eight thousand inhabitants, about 
eighty of whom are white. — The morals of Free Town are 
fearfully bad. As in colonies too generally, where the re- 
straints of home, of friends, of those we love, and those we 
fear are broken off, licentiousness prevails to a most lamen- 
table degree. The abomination is not committed under 
the cover of midnight, nor am I speaking of the natives 
whose early habits might plead some ap<frlogy for them — 
it is done at noonday, and to use a figure, the throne as 
well as the footstool has participated in the evil ; and the 
evil, I am told, is increasing. Sanctioned as it is, by those 
who take the lead in the society, and who ought to form 
the morals of the colony, avarice has been added to lust, 
and those who otherwise might have been virtuous, have 
sold themselves to work wickedness. — Humanity and phi- 
lanthropy which have struggled so hard and so long to help 
this degraded country, must weep and cover itself with 
sackcloth, to see its best interests so wickedly perverted!" 
Letter from Rev. 31. B. Cox, Methodist Missionary in Libc- 
beria. Af Rep. IX. p. 209. 

There is still an important consideration, which does 
not seem to have engaged the attention of Colonization- 
ists. It is proposed to transport to Africa, our whole colored 
population, and of course to found a mighty nation in Li- 
beria. But how long will this nation remain dependent 
on the Board of Managers at Washington? Instead of 
millions, suppose the colony to'be only ten thousand strong. 
Who is to govern it, who defend it, and fight its battles? 
Were the colony now to declare independence, how would 
the Society reduce it to subjection , and if not subjected, 
what becomes of the mighty plan of making it the recepta- 
cle of our slaves and free negroes? Suppose the colonists 
like their brethren of Sierra Leone engage in the slave- 
trade, who is to punish or control them ? Suppose in time 



AFRICAN COLONIZATION. 69 

they find the influx of emigrants inconvenient, and refuse 
to admit them, who shall coerce them ? 

On the whole, the system of African Colonization is 
full of absurdities and contradictions, and evils, which are 
not seen, because they are concealed by a veil of prejudice. 
It is a system which strikingly exposes the folly of human 
wisdom, when opposed to the precepts of the Gospel of 
Christ. Had America possessed that fear of the Lord, 
which is the beginning of true wisdom, slavery would long 
since have ceased from among us, and our colored breth- 
ren, treated with Christian kindness, instead of being nui- 
sances, would have been valued and useful citizens ; and 
our churches, instead of uniting to send " cargoes of vaga- 
bonds" to Africa under the guise of Christian missionaries, 
would have aided the descendants of her sons, furnished by 
us with all the stores of human learning, and selected for 
their piety and zeal, in proclaiming the glad tidings of sal- 
vation, throughout that benighted continent. 



CHAPTER V. 

Influence of the Society on Slavery. 

In 1822, a committee was appointed by a public meet- 
ing in Boston, to report on the character and tendency of 
the American Colonization Society. The committee in 
their report remark : 

" It is only from the belief which the committee very 
cordially entertain, that the active members of the Ameri- 
can Colonization Society are perfectly disposed to frame 
their measures with reference to the entire suppression of 
the slave trade, and to a gradual and prudent, but com- 
plete emancipation of those now held in slavery, that we 
can regard the Society as having any claim upon the sym- 
pathy or assistance of the people of New-England." 

Such were the expectations by which northern philan- 
thropists were at first induced to countenance the Society. 
There is scarcely to be found a Colonization article or 

7 



70 MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY 

speech that does not warrant these expectations, that does 
not promise the exertion by the Society of a mighty moral 
influence in abolishing slavery. 

Now it is obvious that such an influence must operate in 
one or more of the following ways, viz : 

1. On the conscience of the slave holder, convincing 
him that slave holding is sinful, and that his Maker re- 
quires him to liberate his slaves. 

2. On the reputation of the slave holder, making him 
feel, that his standing in the community is lowered by keeping 
his fellow men in bondage, and enjoying, without compen- 
sation, the fruits of their labor. 

3. On the interests of the slave holder, persuading 
him, that emancipation would enhance his property. 

4. On the fears of the slave holder, alarming him for 
the safety of himself and family. 

o. By the power of example, showing the slave holder, 
by the conduct of others whom he esteems, what his own 
ought to be. 

We flatter ourselves, that we shall prove, that the influ- 
ence of the Society is in no degree exerted in any one of 
these ways, except the last. Of the extent of this last 
mode, we shall speak hereafter. 

It will not be pretended, that the Society addresses 
itself to the conscience of the slave holder. Such addresses 
are not authorised by the constitution, and have been 
repeatedly disclaimed by the Society. But when the Soci- 
ety disclaims appeals to the conscience, it disclaims the 
most powerful of all means for the removal of slavery. 

" We never made any headway," says a British writer, 
" in the abolition of the slave trade, and of slavery, till it 
was taken up by the religious men, prosecuted as a concern 
of the soul, with reference to eternity, and by motives 
drawn from the cross of Christ" Mr. G. Smith, a most 
estimable officer of the Society, remarked, in a temperance 
address : 

" I never heard that temperance had any success any 
where, unless the appeals in its favor were made directly 
to the consciences of the rum dealers. Strike out these, 
and it is vain that you seek for other means to propel the 
triumphant car of temperance. Hitch to that car, health, 



UPON SLAVERY. 71 

economy, expediency, the public good, what you please, if 
you leave out the appeal to men's consciences, you have, 
as we say at* the North, a weak team." And surely a more 
weak, broken-winded, good for nothing team, than Coloni- 
zation, was never hitched to the car of abolition. How, 
and in what direction, does this team draw ? It is amusing 
to observe how wary Colonizationists are of approaching this 
question. They dwell on the political evils of slavery, and 
call on religion and patriotism for aid in removing them ; 
and when, in breathless attention, we are waiting to learn 
by what process the moral influence of the Society is to de- 
liver us from the curse of slavery, in a moment the scene 
shifts to Africa, and we are entertained with visions of ils 
future bliss and glory. It may be safely asserted, that not 
one Colonization writer or orator in a hundred, ever at- 
tempts to explain how the Society is to induce masters to 
liberate their slaves. Occasionally, however, the effort is 
made. Mr. Knapp, in a speech before the Society, thus 
explains the matter : 

" In my opinion, it (slavery) may be cured in less time 
than it has been growing up. Open once the facilities of 
emigration — show an object for it, and, like any other 
business, it will increase to any extent we may wish. The 
natural world has yielded her impossibilities, as they were 
thought, to the efforts of enlightened men ; why should we 
not be as successful in the moral 1 A fair and permanent 
road is now built over the Alps, the passage of which was 
once considered as sufficient to give immortality to the 
successful adventurer." 10th Rep. p. 6. 

So, it seems, that if we open once the facilities of emi- 
gration, that is, provide ships, &,c, the planters will at 
once call in their slaves from their cotton and sugar fields, 
and ship them to Africa ; but why they will do so, is a 
problem, which, after all, Mr. Knapp omits to solve. 

" This work, (Colonization) as it advances, tends to 
improve the character, and elevate the condition of the free 
people of color, and thus to take away one standing and 
very influential argument against both individual and gene- 
ral abolition. This, to an unprejudiced mind, is one of 
the most obvious tendencies of African Colonization. Ele- 
vate the character of the free people of color, let it be 



72 MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY 

seen that they are men indeed ; let the degrading associa- 
tions which follow them be broken up by the actual im- 
provement of their character as a people, and negro sla- 
very must wither and die." New-Haven Christian Specta- 
tor for March, 1833. 

As the Society utterly disclaims all attempts to elevate 
the free blacks here, the meaning of the above is, that 
when the slave holder in America learns that black men in 
Liberia are intelligent and respectable, he will release his 
slaves from their fetters. We wonder if similar intelligence 
from the West Indies will produce the same effect : if so, 
it may be obtained at far less expense of time and money, 
than from Africa. 

Let us now attend to the process by which an excellent 
Vice President of the Society, supposes slavery is to be 
abolished. 

" Let Africa begin to enter upon the redemption of her 
character, which guilty Christian nations have for centu- 
ries combined to keep down to the lowest point of degra- 
dation, and she will begin to be respected, and the condi- 
tion of her outcast children on our shores, will awaken a 
livelier sympathy. And when Africa shall have put on 
the garment of civilization, and the influence of her re- 
generation shall be felt throughout this land, our most 
tenacious, and obstinate slave holder, will shrink from the 
relation he bears to her children. The poor creature whom 
he formerly regarded as a few removes above the brute, 
will now present himself before the new associations of his 
master's mind, as his fellow man, and his equal, and the 
slave will be permitted to go free." Speech of G. Smith, 
Esq. 14th Rep. p. 11. 

It would seem, that at the close of the fourteenth year 
of the Society's labors, Africa had not yet, in the opinion 
of Mr. Smith, begun to enter upon the redemption of her 
character. How soon a beginning is to be made, and in 
how many years, or centuries, the Society expects to com- 
plete the work of dressing Africa in the garment of civili- 
zation, we are not informed. But when this work shall 
have been finished, and when it shall have produced a 
general sensation (how strong and of what kind we know 
not) throughout America, then the motions of the sugar- 



UPON SLAVERY. 73 

mill and cotton-gin are to be arrested, and the fetters are 
to fall from the slave Why ? Because the commands of 
God, and the interests and safety of the master, require it? 
No; but because the master will then make the discovery, 
that his poor slave, but little removed as he is from the 
brute, is still his fellow man, and his equal ! This is cer- 
tainly a most marvellous process for teaching the Southern 
planters a plain, simple truth; a truth, too, which was 
proclaimed by their own representatives, 80 long ago as 1776, 
in the declaration of independence, but which unfortunately 
seems not to have had the influence which Mr. Smith sup- 
poses it will exert, when taught by the regeneration of 
Africa. 

We may now jud^e a little of the elements of that 
moral influence, which a Christian Society exerts against 
slavery. Conscience, and the word of (iod, death, judg- 
ment and eternity, enter not into its composition. 

"The Society," declares one of its vice presidents, 
"tends, and may powerfully tend, to rid us gradually and 
entirely in the United States, of slaves and slavery." R, 
G. Harper. Sec 14th Rep. p. ti:j. 

Let us now see how gradually this riddance is to be 
effected. 

" We have never supposed, that the Society's plan 
could be accomplished in a few years ; but, on the con- 
trary, have boasted, that it will demand a CENTURY for its 
fulfillment." Mr. Fitzhugh, Vice President. Af. Hep. 
IV. p. IM4. 

It may seem singular that philanthropists should exult 
in the conviction, that their plan for doing good would re- 
quire a century for its fulfillment; but the benevolence of 
the " Colonization system" is peculiar. 

" There are those, sir, who ask, ' and could not a quarter 
of a century cease and determine these two great evils' 
(free blacks and slaves.) You and I, my dear sir, on 
whom the frost of time has fallen rather perceptibly, would 
say a century." Speech of Mr. Curliss. 13th Rep. 
p. viii. 

" The sudden abolition of slavery in a community 
where it existed to any considerable extent, would be per- 
nicious. But this is danger which can occasion no alarm, 

7* 



74 SLAVES TO BE REMOVED. 

admitting that the Colonization scheme contemplates the 
ultimate abolition of slavery, yet that result could only be 
produced by the slow and gradual operation of centuries." 
Af. Rep. I. p. 217. 

" It is not expected to remove so great an evil as two 
millions of slaves suddenly : if it can be accomplished in a 
century, it will be as much as the most sanguine of our 
friends ought to expect." Judge Best's Address to the 
Indiana Col. Soc. Af. Rep. IX. p. 71. 

" It is not the work of a day, nor a year ; it is not the 
work of one time, nor of two; but it is one which will now 
commence, and may continue for ages. View of Slavery, 
by Humanitas, a Colonization advocate. Baltimore, 
1822. 

Thus we see that the continuance of slavery, with all 
its licentiousness, ignorance and suffering, for at least a 
century to come, is calmly contemplated by zealous and 
distingished Colonizationists. But still the Society ex- 
pects ultimately to abolish slavery. Let us therefore 
inquire what it must effect to fulfill this expectation. 

The increase of our slave population, from the census 
of 1820 to that of 1830, was 472,568. Estimating the 
future increase at the same ratio, it will be for the ten 
years ending in 1840, 617,263 ; and for the ten years end- 
ing in 1850, 806,762. The annual increase is now up- 
wards of 54,000, and the daily excess of births over 
deaths, 147. In 1850, it will be 80,676 annually, and 221 
daily ! 

From this statement, it will be perceived, what must be 
the power of the " moral influence" of the Society to 
remove to Africa merely the annual increase of our slave 
population ; and hence we may judge of its ability to de- 
liver the country from slavery. In forming an opinion on 
this subject, we shall be further aided by inquiring what 
advantages the Society has enjoyed, and what have been 
the results of its labors. 

Never has any voluntary association enjoyed in an 
equal degree the applause and patronage of both state and 
church. Men of all parties, and of all religions, and of no 
religion, have zealously espoused its cause. On the roll of 
its officers, are emblazoned the names of the most popular 



SLAVES ALREADY REMOVED. 75 

leaders of rival political parties. The Legislatures of four- 
teen States have passed resolutions in its favor. The high- 
est ecclesiastical judicatories, of almost every religious 
denomination, have recommended it to the patronage of 
their churches. Politicians have declaimed, ministers have 
preached, and Christians have prayed in its behalf. To 
promote its objects, liberal contributions have been made 
from the coffers of the nation, and the pockets of individu- 
als. Under color of providing for the removal to Africa, of 
about three hundred recaptured negroes, the general govern- 
ment appropriated £130,000, which were " applied to an ob- 
ject affiliated to our design, and essentially, though collate- 
rally, contributing to its advancement; the sending out of 
agents of the United States to the African coast, and the trans- 
portation of persons in the public ships. By these means we 
have obtained, in fact, all we could have expected to gain, 
had Congress decided to aid our enterprise." Speech of 
Gen. Harper, 7th Rep. p. 12. 

Since 1820, £220,449 have been poured into the treas- 
ury. If to this be added $45,645, the debt due by the So- 
ciety at the beginning of 1834, we have a total of $266,094 
expended, independent of the $130,000 paid by government. 
Such have been the pecuniary means of the Society ; and 
now let us see how far its " moral influence" has progressed 
in freeing the country of its millions of slaves. Since De- 
cember 1816, when the Society was organized, to the pre- 
sent time, it has transported eight hundred and nine manu- 
mitted slaves to Africa — equal to the increase of the slave 
population for Jive and a half days ! But it will be said 
that some years elapsed before the Society was in a capa- 
city to transport emigrants. Be it so — let us inquire then, 
how many manumitted slaves have been sent out the last 
Jive years. In 1830 — 1, 2, 3, six hundred and sixty-six 
were transported : in 1834, none* making a removal on 
an average, of less than the increase of one day in each 
year! In the eighteenth year of the Society's existence, 
it finds itself compelled to pause and rest, after the mighty 
effort of arresting the increase of the slave population for 

FIVE DAYS AND A HALF. 

* In 1834, the Philadelphia Society sent out one hundred and twenty 
four manumitted slaves. For the transportation of one hundred and 
ten of these $2,200, had been left by their former master. 



76 INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIETY 

Such are the results of the moral influence about which 
we have heard so much. And upon whom has this influ- 
ence operated ? Surely upon those who were most within 
its sphere ; and of course these eight hundred and nine 
slaves were sent from the plantations of the officers of the 
Society. Unfortunately facts do not confirm this very 
natural supposition. Judge Washington was President of 
the Society, from its first organization, till his death in 1829. 
In a letter to the Society he observed, " We may fairly 
hope it will lead to the sure but gradual abolition of slavery.'' 
Af Rep. VII. p. 20. 

Whatever were the hopes of this gentleman, he was 
personally beyond the reach of the Society's moral influence. 
In a published letter in 1821, after statins that his slaves had 
got the idea that as nephew to General Washington, or Presi- 
dent of the Colonization Society he could not hold them in 
bondage, he adds, " I called the negroes together in March 
last, and after stating to them what I had heard, I assured 
them that I had no intention to give freedom to any of 
them " 

The Judge was as good as his word. He did indeed 
shortly after part with fifty four of his slaves, but it was 
not to the agent of the Society, to be transported to Liberia, 
but to a slave dealer, to be shipped to Kew-Orleans. Mr. 
Carroll, a large slave holder, succeeded to the presidential 
chair, but for aught that appears to the contrary, neither 
he nor Mr. Madison the present incumbent, ever liberated 
a single slave. Mr. Clay, a Vice President, publicly inti- 
mated that he did not intend to send his slaves to Africa. 
Mr. Fitzhugh, another Vice President, the proprietor of 
"numerous slaves," speaking of slavery, remarked : 

" No plea can be urged in justification of its continu- 
ance but the plea of necessity . Af. Rep. V. p. 354. 

The will of this gentleman who died in 1830, is a singu- 
lar comment on this plea of necessity. The following ex- 
tract is given in the African Repository, under the head of 

PHILANTHROPIC EXAMPLE. 

" After the year 1850, I leave all my negroes uncondi- 
tionally free, with the privilege of having the expenses of 
their removal to whatever places of residence they may se- 
lect, defrayed. If they consent to go to the Colony, (Libe- 



UPON ITS OWN MEMBERS. 77 

ria) they are to be paid fifty dollars each on their arrival." 
Af. Rep. VI 247. 

It will be perceived that the testator believed in the " ne- 
cessity," of requiring his slaves to toil for twenty years for 
his heirs, after he himself was in the grave, before they 
could be permitted to labor for themselves : and also the 
necessity of leaving the children who might be born of these 
slaves in the twenty years, in interminable bondage, for it 
will be observed, that the prospective manumission is con- 
fined to Mr. Fitzhugh's " negroes," and not to the children 
to be hereafter born. Should this Philanthropic example 
be universally followed, in how many centuries would sla- 
very cease ? 

Mr. Custiss, well known as a zealous advocate of the So- 
ciety in a speech before it, thus exclaims, 

" Lend us your aid, to strike the fetters from the slave, 
and to spread the enjoyment of unfettered freedom over the 
whole of our favored and happy land." 7th Report, p. 13. 

Had Mr. Custiss applied to the Board, for a passage for his 
slaves to Liberia, the boon would unquestionably have been 
granted. But such a boon, was not the aid he desired. In 
the New- York Commercial Advertiser of January 31, 1829, 
it is stated that Philip Lee, the son of General Washington's 
favorite servant, is the slave of Mr. Custiss, the adopted son 
of Washington : that Philip is a pious, faithful and in all 
respects an exemplary man, and has a wife and children to 
whom he is tenderly attached ; and that & 1000, are required to 
deliver Philip and his family from slavery. " Much interest has 
been excited in the district of Columbia, where it is supposed 
one half of the sum required will be raised." The paper 
farther states, that $121 had been subscribed in New- York. 
In the appendix to the 15th Report, p. 41 , is a list of persons 
who have manumitted slaves to be sent to Liberia. The list 
does not profess to give all, but contains fifteen names and 
it is remarkable that the name of any one present or former 
officer of the American Colonization Society is not to be 
found among them, with the exception of Mr. Fitzhugh 
who is included, on account of his " Philanthropic" last 
wili and testament. 

If such be the impotency of the moral influence of the 
Society upon its officers, its orators and advocates, what 



78 DIFFICULTIES OF COLONIZATION. 

are we to expect from its influence on slave holders ge- 
nerally. 

But let us suppose, what we all know to be untrue, that 
every slave holder in our country, is in very deed anxious 
to get rid of his slaves, and that the whole slave population 
is now and will continue to be at the disposal of the Soci- 
ety, and we ask, can this population be transported to Af- 
rica, and there maintained? We have seen that before any 
impression can be made on the present amount of the slave 
population, its increase rising to more than fifty-four thou- 
sand annually, must be removed. But it is surely not to be 
removed, merely to perish by famine in the wilderness. In 
the ordinary calculations of the expense of carrying these 
people to Africa, they seem to be considered only as arti- 
cles of freight which are to be delivered at Liberia, at so 
much per piece. Thirty dollars are usually assumed as the 
cost of a passage ; but let it be recollected that after they 
arrive, houses, implements of husbandry, food and clothing 
for at least one year must be provided for them. It is with 
difficulty a new colony can provide for its own maintenance, 
and it is folly to suppose that it can also provide for an annual 
influx of fifty thousand emigrants, emigrants too, sunk in 
brutal ignorance, unaccustomed to supply their own wants, 
and bringing with them, nothing but the rags on their 
backs. Place fifty thousand such persons in the wilds of 
Africa, and they would be far more likely to starve before 
the end of a yenr, than they would be at that time, to fur- 
nish the necessaries of life to fifty ihousand more emi- 
grants. The colony is now poor, and has only about three 
thousand inhabitants, and it is admitted (See 15th Rep. p. 
10,) that an addition of one thousand emigrants in any one 
year since its establishment would have been fatal to it. How 
many years then must elapse, before it can receive fifty-four 
thousand every year ; and when that period arrives what will 
then be the annual increase? Admitting the whole marine 
and the whole treasury of the United States to be surrender- 
ed to the Society, does any sane man believe, that Liberia 
can be brought to such a state of cultivation as to maintain an 
annual accession to her population of fifty-four thousand in 
less than twenty-five jears? But in the year 1860 the an- 
nual increase of slaves, instead of fifty-four thousand, will be 



ATTACHMENT TO SLAVERY. 79 

one hundred and four thousand ; and unless the Society 
will then be able to transport more than this mighty multi- 
tude, each year, it will not even diminish the present 
amount of the slave population ! 

In supposing the slave holders ready to colonize their 
slaves, we have given full effect to the reiterated assertions 
of Colonizationists on this subject. These gentlemen are 
fond of representing the Southern masters as unfortunately 
burthened with a grievous load, which they are impatient 
to shake off; and from which no other human agency than 
the Society can possibly relieve them. Granting the premi- 
ses, we see what sort of relief the Society is capable of 
affording. We have intentionally removed one difficulty, 
that we might consider another. Let us now reverse the 
supposilion, and admitting the ability of the Society, imme- 
diately to transport to Africa, and there maintain all the 
slaves in the United States, let us inquire how the consent 
of the masters is to be obtained. 

Let it be remembered, that the Society has studiously 
avoided every measure to obtain such consent, and boasts 
that it addresses arguments to no master. But if we are to 
believe Colonizationists, no arguments are necessary to 
induce the masters to liberate their slaves. Our sympathy 
is perpetually demanded, not for the slave, but his unfortu- 
nate master, who is imploring the Society to deliver him 
from the curse entailed upon him by his ancestors! So far 
from slave holders wishing to abolish slavery, they are 
endeavoring to transmit it as a precious inheritance to their 
latest posterity. As we have already observed, we do not 
solicit the reader's belief in any assertion we may make, 
until we have demonstrated its truth ; and we assert that there 
is a general disposition among slave holders, to perpetuate 
slavery. We know, and cheerfully acknowledge that there 
are exceptions, but we believe they are exceedingly rare. 
The whole tendency of slave legislation, is to rivet the 
chains of its victims. H^nce the cruel obstacles it raises 
to manumission, and the wicked efforts it makes to brutalize 
the human mind. But not contented with holding their 
own slaves with an iron grasp, they have striven, and with 
woful success, to extend the curse beyond their own 
borders. When Missouri was to be admitted into the 



80 



ATTACHMENT TO SLAVERY. 



Union, every slave representative in Congress, without one 
solitary exception, Colonizationist or not, voted to render it 
a slave State. So anxious was Virginia, to strengthen the 
slave interest, that rebellion and civil war were the price she 
was willing to pay for another mart in human flesh. Her 
House of Delegates, " Resolved, that the General Assembly 
of Virginia, will support the good people of Missouri, in 
their just rights, and admission into the Union, and will 
co-operate with them in resisting with manly forti- 
tude any attempt which Congress may make to impose 
restraints, or restrictions on the price of their admission, not 
authorized by the great principles of the Constitution, and 
in violation of their rights, liberty and happiness!" 

General Charles C. Pinkney, of South-Carolina, in a 
public address, delivered in 1824, maintained that slavery 
as it exists in that State, is " no greater or more unusual 
evil, than befalls the poor in general ; that its extinction 
would be attended with calamity to the country, and to the 
people connected with it, in every character, and relation; 
that no necessity exists for such extinction — that slavery is 
sanctioned by the Mosaic dispensation — that it is a fulfill- 
ment of the denunciation, pronounced against the second 
son of Noah — that it is not inconsistent with the genius 
and spirit of Christianity, nor considered by St. Paul as a 
moral evil." Address before the Agricultural Society of 
South-Carolina. 

Governor Miller, of South-Carolina, in his message to 
the Legislature in 1829, remarks, 

" Slavery is not a national evil, on the contrary it is a 
national benefit. Slavery exists in some form every where, 
and it is not of much consequence in a philosophical point 
of view, whether it be voluntary or involuntary. In a poli- 
tical point of view, involuntary slavery has the advantage, 
since all who enjoy political liberty, are then in fact free." 

It gives us pleasure to state that the African Repository, 
pronounces the doctrines of Messrs. Pinkney and Miller, 
"abominable." We have explained in our introduction, 
the tacit compact, by which Colonizationists are never to 
defend slavery in the abstract, nor condemn it in particulars, 
a compact which has thus far been scrupulously observed 
by the Repository. But the question is, not what Mr. 



ATTACHMENT TO SLAVERY. 81 

Gurley thinks of these doctrines, but how they are regarded 
by slaveholders. Now there is no evidence, that General 
Pinkney's rank in Carolina society, was affected by his 
" abominable" doctrines ; on the contrary, judging from 
the eulogium pronounced at his decease, he was regarded 
as one of the most distinguished and pious members of the 
slaveholding community. And so far were the people of 
Carolina offended, by the " abominable" doctrines of their 
governor, that after his term of service expired, they 
expressed their confidence in him, by sending him to repre- 
sent their State in the Senate of the United States. 

Governor Hayne, of the same State, in his message 
to the Legislature, (1833,) labors to prove that slavery 
adds to the military strength of a nation, and concludes 
with declaring that " the existence of slavery in the South, 
is not only to be regarded as an evil to be deplored, 
but that it brings along corresponding advantages, in eleva- 
ting the character, contributing to the wealth, enlarging 
the resources, and adding to the strength of the State in 
which it exists." 

It must be confessed these are strange sentiments to be 
advanced by the chief magistrates of a people who regard 
slavery as a curse, and are anxious to colonize their slaves. 
Let us now attend to the official declarations of the present 
Governor of South-Carolina; and see what comment they 
afford on the supposed desire of the slave holders to get rid 
of their slaves, a supposition on which the whole theory 
of abolition by Colonization is founded. 

" It is demonstrable that cotton could not be produced by 
the labor of hired freemen for double the average price it has 
commanded for ten years past. — It is obvious that the abo- 
lition of that kind of labor which is the basis of our wealth 
and prosperity would annihilate at a single blow, that en- 
tire branch of foreign commerce which brings the industry 
of the exporting States into competition with that of the 
manufacturing States. — I am thoroughly convinced that 
the institution of domestic, slavery, paradoxical as it may 
seem is an indispensable element in an unmixed representa- 
tive republic. How sacred is our obligatioiv to provide 
for our posterity all the necessary means of defending 
and preserving an institution as essential to their existence 

8 



82 ATTACHMENT TO SLAVERy. 

and to their liberty, as it is obnoxious to the prejudices of 
those who have the greatest possible facilities for assailing 
it." Inaugural Speech, Dec. 1884. 

A few years since the State of Louisiana passed a law, 
prohibiting the importation of slaves from other States, but 
the extension of the sugar cultivation demanding more labor, 
the law was repealed in 1833, and this State is now import- 
ing multitudes of slaves from Maryland and Virginia. Soon 
after the repeal of the law, 2,000 were offered for sale in 
New-Orleans, in the course of a single week. A letter 
from an intelligent gentleman, personally acquainted with 
the state of slavery at Natchez, says: "The prospects of 
the blacks in the South-west, are gloomy in the extreme. 
Cotton can be afforded at 6 cents per pound ; last year, 
(1832,) it was worth from 9 to 13 cents; this year it is 
worth from 14 to 18 cents. Last year about 1,000 negroes 
were sold in Natchez, and I am confident 1,500 will be dis- 
posed of in that market this year. In my opinion, the 
slaves, if ever free, will owe their liberty to their own 
strength and the blessing of Heaven ; for their masters, as 
a Methodist minister once expressed it, think only of 
making more cotton, to buy more negroes, to make more 
cotton, to buy more negroes." 

So far are masters from wishing to send their negroes 
to Africa, that they are continually increasing their stock, 
and hence slaves are rising in value. A late Georgia paper 
announces, that at a sale of seventy-one negroes, of all ages 
and kinds, the average price was $438. 

A convention has recently been held in Tennessee, for 
amending the State Constitution, and one amendment is, a 
prohibition to the Legislature to abolish slavery ! 

The Augusta Chronicle, (Geo.) of Oct. 1833, says : 
"We firmly believe, that if the Southern States do not 
quickly unite and declare to the North, if the question of 
slavery be longer discussed in any shape, they will instantly 
secede from the Union ; that the question must be set- 
tled, and very soon, by the sword, as the only possible 
means of self-preservation !" 

The Richmond Enquirer and the Washington Globe, 
are both mightily indignant at the proposition that Congress 
should abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. 



VIRGINIA COLONIZATION. 83 

So far is it from being true, as stated by Colonization- 
ists, that the South is ready to surrender its slaves, that 
every day affords new proofs that the public sentiment both 
at the North and the South, is now more tolerant to slavery 
than at any other period during the last thirty years. Who 
believes, that even ten years ago, any Connecticut Legisla- 
ture would have ventured to pass the Black Act; or that 
Judge Dagget himself would have pronounced his porten- 
tous and extraordinary opinion ? At what time, before the 
influence of the Colonization Society was felt throughout 
our land, did the citizens of the North merit or receive 
such commendations from the slave press as the following ? 

" Public sentiment at the North, in reference to South- 
ern interests, was never in a sounder state than it is now. 
The language of the Northern press is cheering in the ex- 
treme, — the feeling in favor of the South, and against the 
abolitionists, is deep and almost universal." Charleston 
Courier, 21st July, 1834. 

When, until late years, have the Governors of even 
slave States, dared to promulgate such " abominable" doc- 
trines, as those we have quoted 1 

Unless we greatly deceive ourselves, we have now shown 
that no desire exists at the South to get rid of slavery, at 
least to such an extent as to render Colonization in the re- 
motest degree instrumental in abolishing it : and it is an 
unquestioned fact, that in 18 years only about 900 manu- 
mitted slaves have been sent to Africa. But certain laws 
have been recently passed by Virginia and Maryland, which 
are triumphantly cited by Colonizationists as proofs of the 
growing desire at the South to abolish slavery, — a desire 
which is attributed to the influence of the Society. 

The law of Virginia appropriates $!8,000 a year for 
five years, for the transportation of colored persons to Africa. 
Now it is evident that the effect of this law upon slavery in 
Virginia, must depend on the class of colored persons to be 
transported. W 7 ill it be believed, that this law, received 
with such joy and triumph by Colonizationists, confines the 
application of its appropriation to the removal of such blacks 
as were free at the date of its passage. In other words, it 
declares to the slaveholders, " We will not assist you in 



84 MARYLAND COLONIZATION. 

manumitting your slaves." By a previous law, any manu- 
mitted slave, who does not leave the State in twelve months, 
becomes again a slave : this new law provides that such a 
manumitted slave shall not be sent to Africa, — of course it 
affords no possible inducement or facility whatever to man- 
umission ; and its whole operation is confined to the remo- 
val of nuisances, — and we have already seen, from the 
avowal of members of the Legislature, that this removal is 
virtually to be compulsory. The philanthropy that rejoices 
in such a law, is indeed of a peculiar cast, but it is the phi- 
lanthropy of "the benevolent Colonization system."* 

The Maryland law, of 1832, appropriates $200,000, to 
be applied through the agency of the Maryland Coloniza- 
tion Society, to the removal to Africa, of "the people of 
color now free, and such as shall hereafter become so." 

On the *20th January, 1833, the American Colonization 
Society " Resolved that the Society view with the highest 
gratification, the continued efforts of the State of Maryland 
to accomplish her patriotic and benevolent system in re- 
gard to her colored population ; and that the last appropria- 
tion by that State of two hundred thousand dollars in aid 
of African Colonization, is hailed by the friends of the sys- 
tem as a bright example to other States." 

Let us now examine this " benevolent system," this 
" bright example," and see how it accords with Christian 
love and sincerity. 

In forming our opinion of the true character of this 
scheme, it will not be improper to take into consideration 
the avowed motives which gave it birth. The Legislature, 
in their session of 1831, adopted the following resolutions : 

" Resolved, that the increased proportion of the free 
people of color, in this State, to the white population — the 
evils growing out of their connection and unrestrained asso- 
ciation with the slaves, their habits and manner of obtain' 
ing a subsistence, and their withdrawing a large portion 

* A party writer, in a late number of the Richmond Enquirer, says : 
"An opposition man, who stated in the spring that he considered the 
removal of the deposites as affecting the value of his property 30 per 
cent., admits now, that he never saw a more wholesome state or 
things ; negro boys and men will fetch from $600 to $700." Is Virgi- 
nia sick of this wholesome state of things 1 



MARYLAND COLONIZATION. 85 

t&jT employment from the laboring class of the white popula- 
tion, are subjects of momentous and grave consideration to 
the good people of this State. 

" Resolved, that, as philanthropists and lovers of free- 
dom, we deplore the existence of slavery among us, and 
would use our utmost exertions to ameliorate its condition : 
yet we consider the unrestricted power of manumission as 
fraught with ultimate evils, of a more dangerous tendency 
than the circumstance of shivery alone ; and that any act, 
having for its object the mitigation of these joint evils, not 
inconsistent with other paramount considerations, would be 
worthy the attention and deliberation of the representatives 
of a free, liberal-minded, and enlightened people. 5 ' 

Another resolution followed, declaring that, by the Co- 
lonization of free people of color in Africa, " these evils 
may be measurably diminished," and a committee was ap- 
pointed to frame a bill upon " the principles" of these resolu- 
tions. 

Such, then, are the principles of the Maryland benevo- 
lent system , and which of them is derived from the gos- 
pel of Christ 1 So far as the system relates to the free 
blacks, it proposes their removal, not out of kindness to 
them, but because they are supposed to be injurious to 
slave property ; because their habits and manner of ob- 
taining a subsistence, the necessary results of wicked laws, 
are vicious ; and because they enter into competition with 
white laborers. This last accusation against the free 
blacks is a most extraordinary one, when made by a peo- 
ple, who keep in their employment more than one hundred 
thousand black LABORERS, who toil without wages, and 
subsist on the scantiest fare ; and yet the interference of 
these laborers with " the laboring class of the white popu- 
lation," occasions no uneasiness, and leads to no plan for 
their removal. And what are the principles of this system 
with regard to slaves? Why, that it is worse to give a 
slave his liberty here, than to keep him in bondage ; but at 
the same time, that " the utmost exertions" ought to be 
made to " ameliorate his condition." Let us now proceed 
to the practical application of these principles. At the 
next session, a report was presented, in which calculations 
are entered into, to show that " the whole of this popula- 
8* 



86 MARYLAND COLONIZATION. 

tion (of free blacks) can be removed in the course of one 
generation alone." But the Legislators are philanthropists 
and lovers of freedom, and deplore the existence of slavery. 
Let us see how the committee propose to remove this de- 
plored evil. The report says of the slaves, " they are pro- 
perty, and must be so regarded, and without their owners' 
consent, none of them can be touched." 

Here we have a principle which secures to Maryland 
the blessings of slavery forever. In no country in the 
world, in ancient or modern times, has slavery been abolish- 
ed by the unanimous consent of slave holders. Never has 
it been peaceably abolished but by law. The Northern 
and Eastern States could abolish slavery without the con- 
sent of the owners ; the Republican States of South Amer- 
ica could do the same: the Legislature of Maryland can 
rule fifty thousand of their free colored citizens with a rod 
of iron, can deny them the most common and inestimable 
rights of humanity ; but it cannot rescue a human being 
from unmerited and involuntary bondage! 

Let us now turn to the famous appropriation act. By 
this act, masters are allowed to manumit their slaves, 
but then the manumitted slaves are to be transported be- 
yond the limits of the State ; and should a parent or a 
child, a husband or a wife, shudder at parting forever from 
a near and dear relative, the separation may be avoided by 
a renunciation in open court of the newly acquired liberty, 
and a public consent to continue a slave ! Such is the 
bearing of this benevolent system on slavery. Let us now 
contemplate its effects on the free black. The appropria- 
tion bill authorizes no compulsion, and imposes no penal- 
ties on a refusal to go to Africa. It was not expedient that 
this bill should contain such provisions, and therefore they 
were inserted in another bill passed by the same Legisla- 
ture, and within two days of the other, entitled, " An act, 
relating to free negroes and slaves." This act, like the 
Connecticut Black Act, is a bold and flagrant violation of 
the constitutional rights of free citizens. A citizen of 
New-York, if his complexion be colored, may not visit a 
dying child or parent in Maryland, without incurring a 
penalty of fifty dollars for every week he remains, and if 
he is unable to pay the fine, why then he is to be sold by 



MARYLAND COLONIZATION. 87 

the sheriff at public sale for such time as may be necessary 
to cover the aforesaid penalty . But if a free negro is sold 
for a limited time, he is, in fact, sold for life. During 
the term for which he is sold, he is a chattel, and may be 
transported at the pleasure of his master ; and when the 
expiration of his term finds him in a cotton-field in Mis- 
souri, or a sugar-mill in Louisiana, who is to rescue him from 
interminable bondage? Should a colored citizen of Mary- 
land cross its boundary on business, ever so urgent to him- 
self, and family, on returning to his home, more than a 
month after, he also is liable to be seized and sold, unless 
previous to his departure, he had complied with certain 
vexatious, legal formalities; and which, from ignorance, 
he would be extremely likely to neglect, or perform imper- 
fectly. A brisk slave trade, it is well known, is carried on 
between Maryland and the Southern States; and it is well 
known, that free negroes are often the victims of this 
trade ; instances occurring of whole families being kid- 
napped. Under such circumstances, many would wish to 
have the means of protecting, if necessary, the freedom of 
themselves and children ; but the new bill forbids them to 
keep any military weapon, without a special license from a 
county court, or city corporation ; a condition amounting 
virtually to a total prohibition. No free negro may attend 
a religious meeting not conducted by a white person. 

As the law thus discourages, and in a great measure 
prohibits religious instruction, exhortation and social prayer, 
among fifty thousand of the population of Maryland, no won- 
der it presumes every one of that fifty thousand to be a thief. 
Hence no person may, under the penalty of five dollars, buy 
of a free negro " any bacon, pork, beef, mutton, corn, 
wheat, tobacco, rye, or oats," unless he shall at the time 
exhibit a certificate from a Justice of the Peace, or three 
respectable persons, that he or they believe the said 
negro came honestly by the identical article offered for sale. 

Such are some of the features of this law, and they are 
well calculated to induce the free negroes to avail them- 
selves of the benevolent and munificent provision made by 
the other law for their transportation to Africa. The con- 
cluding section, however, is th^ most operative of the 
whole, and promises to afford ample employment for the 



88 



MARYLAND COLONIZATION. 



two hundred thousand dollars, and to furnish Liberia witli 
an abundant population. It is as follows : 

" Sect. 12. And be it enacted, that if any free negro or 
mulatto shall be convicted of any crime, committed after 
the passage of this act, which may not, under the laws of 
this State, be punished by hanging by the neck, such free 
negro or mulatto may, in the discretion of the court, be 
sentenced to the penalties and punishments now provided 
by law, or be banished from this State, or be transported 

INTO SOME FOREIGN COUNTRY." 

Hence if a free negro steals a pound of tobacco, he 
may be shipped off to Liberia. In civilized countries, it has 
been the aim of the legislature, to apportion punishments to 
crimes, but Maryland has set " a bright example" of a sim- 
plification of the criminal code, without a parallel in the 
history of jurisprudence. She tells her Judges, V in the case 
of free black offenders, you need give yourselves no trouble 
in comparing the different shades of guilt, and weighing 
those circumstances which aggravate or mitigate the offence. 
In certain cases you must hang them, in all others, without 
exception, you may send them to Africa." 

This is the " benevolent system," the " bright example" 
lauded by the American Colonization Society. This is 
the system which is cited as a proof, that Maryland desires 
to abolish slavery. A symptom of this desire occurred in 
the Maryland House of Delegates, in 1834. Mr. Mann 
moved an inquiry into the expediency of abolishing slavery, 
after a certain period. So great was the excitement pro- 
duced by this motion, that the mover withdrew it, and the 
minute of the motion was expunged from the journal. 

The $200,000, it seems, are entrusted to the Maryland 
Colonization Society ; and that Society, wishing still farther 
to increase its funds, has appealed to the benevolence of 
the North. The appeal is founded on two solemn official 
declarations ; first, that it aims at the extirpation of slavery 
in Maryland, by Colonization, and, secondly, that it con- 
templates " founding a nation on the principle of tempe- 
rance." 

We have seen that a committee of the Maryland legis- 
lature anticipated, or at least insisted on the possibility of 
the removal of the whole free black population in one gene- 



MARYLAND COLONIZATION. 89 

ration. The Society, in their address, repeatedly declare 
their object to be the extirpation of slavery by Colonization; 
and the legislature forbids, as we have also seen, manu- 
mission at home. Of course, slavery can only be extirpated 
by the removal, not of a select portion, but of all the slaves. 

In what terms ought we then to speak of the following 
resolution of the Maryland Society, published to conciliate 
the friends of temperance at the North ? 

" Whereas, it is desired that the settlement about to be 
made by this Society, should as far as practicable, become 
a moral and temperate community ; and as this is to be 
effected, in a great, degree, by the character of the emigrants, 
who leave America for a new home in Africa: and, whereas, 
the sad experience of this country has shown the demoral- 
izing effects of the use of ardent spirits, Be it Resolved 
that no emigrant shall be permitted to go from Maryland, to 
a settlement from this Society in Africa, who will not first 
bind himself, or herself to abstain therefrom." 

So the Society is to carry to Africa 100,000 slaves, and 
thus exterminate slavery in their State ; and yet they 
will positively refuse to carry one of them until he has 
taken the temperance pledge. But what if a portion of 
them will not consent to take the pledge; must slavery 
continue, or must means be taken to coerce their consent? 

None but those wilfully blind, can examine this subject 
without seeing, that the measures adopted by Virginia and 
Maryland, are merely contrivances to get rid of the free 
blacks ; and far more disgraceful in the latter, than in the 
former case, because more disguised by insincere pro- 
fessions. 

The New- York Journal of Commerce, a Colonization 
paper, had the candor in speaking on the subject, to remark, 
" It is true these States do not propose to resort, in the^rsf 
instance, to compulsory measures ; but does any one doubt 
that they will resort to such measures, if the number of 
Tolunteer emigrants should not be sufficient to exhaust the 
appropriations made for their removal." And a Baltimore 
paper (the Chronicle) alluding to the Maryland acts, avows, 
" The intention of those laws was, and their effect must 
be, to expel the free people of color from the State." 



90 COLONIZATION THE ONLY MODE 

Yet do these cruel and perfidious measures receive the 
support and approbation of the Colonization Society. 

We have now examined the means by which the 
Society proposes to effect the removal of slavery, and trust 
we have shown their utter impotency. Were the impracti- 
cability of this scheme, its only objection, the friends of 
humanity and religion would not be called on as they now 
are, to meet it with unrelenting hostility — to labor without 
rest, and without weariness for its entire prostration. Alas, 
though powerless for good, it is mighty for evil ; and its 
baneful influence is leading multitudes of good and well 
intentioned men, unconsciously to countenance doctrines 
and measures, necessarily tending to perpetuate slavery and 
all its abominations in our land. This is an assertion, that 
ought not rashly to be made, nor hastily believed. We 
appeal to common sense, and undisputed facts. 

Admitting that Colonization could, in the course of ages, 
extirpate slavery, ought we, therefore, to reject every means 
of shortening the sufferings of the slave, by hastening his libe- 
ration ? But Colonizationists, not content with insisting 
on the efficiency of their own plan, discourage and oppose 
every other. Now should their plan prove delusive, after 
the lapse of centuries, their influence in preventing the 
adoption of any other, will have been fatal, as far as it may 
have gone, to the freedom of millions. 

"It (Colonization) is the only possible mode of emanci- 
pation at once safe, and rational, that human ingenuity 
can devise." Speech of Mr. Custiss. 13th Report, p. 
viii. 

" Colonization is the only expedient by which these 
evils can be mitigated." Speech of J. A. Dix. Af. Rep. 
IV. 168. 

" To this country it offers the only possible means of 
gradually ridding ourselves of a mighty evil." 1st Rep. 
N. Y. Colonization Society. 

" The Colonizing scheme, leading as it does to volun- 
tary manumission, is the only one which true wisdom can 
dictate." Speech of Mr. Key, Vice President. Af Rep. 
IV. p. 299. 

" I would urge this system of Colonization upon your 



OF ABOLITION. 91 

notice, as the only rational plan which has yet been sug- 
gested for relieving our Southern brethren from the curse 
of slavery." Speech of Chancellor Walworth of N. Y. 

" The only rational and practical plan ever devised for 
the emancipation of the slaves of independent States." 
N. Y. Courier and Enquirer, 12th May, 1834. A Coloni- 
zation paper. 

" This great end (abolition) is to be attained in no 
other way than by a plan of extensive Colonization." 
Letter of R. G. Harper, V. President. 2d Rep. p. iii. 

" In our opinion, the Colonization Society presents the 
only safe and feasible plan for the liberation of our slaves 
from bondage." Report of Wilmington Col. Society. Af. 
Rep. IX. 319. 

We have seen the nature and extent of the moral 
influence of this only rational plan in favor of abolition ; let 
us now examine that which it exerts in behalf of slavery. 

In the first place, we ask what must be the natural 
effect on public opinion of such disclaimers as the follow- 
ing ? 

" It is no Abolition Society : it addresses, as yet, argu- 
ments to no master. It denies the design of attempting 
emancipation partial or general." Address of J. B. Har- 
rison, to Lynchburgh Col. Society. Af. Rep. III. 197. 

" Into their (the Society) accounts, the subject of eman- 
cipation does not enter at all." Af. Rep. IV. p. 306. 

" The friends of Colonization wish to be distinctly 
understood on this point. From the beginning, they have 
disavowed, and they do yet disavow, that their object is the 
emancipation of slaves." Speech of J. S. Green, before the 
N. Jersey Soc. 

" From its origin, and throughout the whole period of 
its existence, it has constantly disclaimed all intention 
whatever of interfering in the smallest degree with the 
rights of property, or the object of emancipation gradual 
or immediate." Speech of Mr. Clay, V. President. Af. 
Rep. VI. p. 13. 

" Recognizing the constitutional and legitimate exist- 
ence of slavery, it seeks not to interfere, directly or indirect- 
ly, with the rights it creates." Af. Rep. III. p. 16. 

" He considered himself publicly pledged, so long as he 



92 THE SOCIETY DISCLAIMS EMANCIPATION. 

had any thing to do with the Society, to resist every at- 
tempt to connect it with emancipation, either in theory or 
practice." Speech of Gen, Jones, a Manager of the Am. 
Col. Soc. 23d Jan. 1834. 

" The emancipation of slaves, or the amelioration of their 
condition, with the moral, intellectual, and political im- 
provement of the people of color within the United States, 
are objects foreign to the powers of this Society." Address 
of the Board of Managers to its Auxiliaries. Af Rep. 
VII. p. 291. 

Thus we see, the friends of the Society utterly deny 
that emancipation, partial or general, gradual or immediate, 
direct or indirect, in theory or in practice, is included 
among its objects ; and yet the Society " is the only 
possible mode of emancipation at once safe and rational, 
that human ingenuity can device !" 

A worthy Vice President of the Society, Mr. G. 
Smith, remarked : " They who denounce us for not favor- 
ing or promoting the emancipation of slaves, might just as 
well denounce the Bible or Temperance Society, because 
they do not step out of their respective spheres, to favor or 
promote the emancipation of slaves." Af. Rep. IX. p. 358. 

But what if a Bible or a Temperance Society should an- 
nounce itself to the world, as about to abolish slavery; 
should declare itself to be the only possible instrument by 
which slavery could be abolished ; and should oppose and 
ridicule the employment of any other instrument, and 
should then falsify all its professions, and exert its influ- 
ence to justify and perpetuate slavery? 

Instead of denouncing the Society for not stepping out 
of its sphere to favor or promote the emancipation of slaves, 
we denounce it for leaving that sphere, and for favoring 
and promoting continued slavery. The professed constitu- 
tional object of the Society, is the colonization of free 
blacks and manumitted slaves. We fully admit, it has no 
more right to meddle with emancipation or slavery, than 
a Bible Society; and we condemn it, because disregarding 
its professed object, and in utter contempt of its own Con- 
stitution, it has lent itself to support and perpetuate a 
system of cruelty and wickedness. It is painful to make 
these assertions, but duty requires them, and facts justify 



SLAVES ADMITTED TO BE PROPERTY. 93 

tjhem. We will now proceed to show, that the Society, 
(and by the term we intend Colonizationists generally) has 
stepped out of its sphere to acknowledge, that man may 
have property in man ; to justify him for holding this pro- 
perty ; and to vilify all who would persuade him instantly to 
surrender it. 

" We hold their slaves as we hold their other property, 
sacred." Speech of J. S. Green before N. Jersey Col. 
Soc. Af Rep. I. p. 283. 

" To the slave holder, they (the Society) address them- 
selves in a tone of conciliation and sympathy. We know 
vour rights, say they, and we respect them." Af. Rep. 
VII. p. 100. 

" The, rights of the masters are to remain sacred in 
the eyes of the Society." Address of Rockbridge Col. 
Soc. Af. Rep. IV. p. 274. 

" We decline assenting to the opinion of some aboli- 
tionists, that though the master's right over his living slaves 
should be conceded, yet he has no claim of property in the 
unborn, for the reason, that there can be no property in a 
thing not in esse. This position is wholly untenable, under 
any jurisprudence." Am. Quar. Review, transferred to 
Af Rep. IX. p. 35. 

The right of property in human flesh, cannot surely be 
more sacred than that in rum ; and yet it would sound 
strange, to hear a religious Society addressing the rum-seller, 
in a tone of conciliation and sympathy, and assuring him 
that they regarded his property in rum as sacred, and re- 
spected his right to traffick in it. 

If it be a question, whether man can lawfully have pro- 
perty in man, who authorized the Society to settle it? 
That it is a question, is evident from the following excla- 
mation of Lord Chancellor Brougham, in one of his speeches. 
il Talk not of the property of the planter in his slaves. 
I deny the right — I acknowledge not the property." And 
yet the right of the West-Indian and the Virginia planter, 
rested on precisely the same basis, the sanction ofhuman laws- 
Not only does the Society acknowledge slaves to be 
property, but it excuses and justifies those who hold this 
property. 

No motive can operate so powerfully in inducing a 
9 



94 



MANUMISSION DISCOURAGED. 



master to liberate his slaves, as the conviction that, by re- 
taining them, he is acting contrary to the will of his Maker, 
and exposing himself to his displeasure. 

In a manual of devotion, lately published by the excel- 
lent Bishop Mead of Virginia, himself a zealous Coloniza- 
tionist, there is a prayer to be used by the head of a 
family. This prayer, intended expressly for the slave 
region, has this affecting petition : " O heavenly Master, 
hear me while I lift up my heart in prayer, for those unfortu- 
nate beings who call me master. O God, make known 
unto me my whole duty towards them and their oppressed 
race, and give me courage and zeal to do it at all events. 
Convince me of sin, if I be wrong in retaining them another 
moment in bondage." 

It is observable, that in this prayer, the slave holder, 
when in communion with his Maker, far from claiming a 
sacred right of property in his fellow immortals, dares not 
make any claim to them whatever, but alludes to them as 
those " who call me master." It is also obvious, that the 
question of immediate emancipation is pressing on his con- 
science, and fearful lest he is committing sin in holding 
slaves rt another moment," he implores the Divine guidance. 
He will of course, seek for light wherever it may be found, 
and will naturally turn to the Colonization Society, to learn 
the opinion of the eminent men who belong to it, on this 
momentous subject. Now let us see what opiates that So- 
ciety administers to quiet his uneasy conscience, and to lull 
it in profound repose. 

First, he is assured, that by freeing his slaves, he 
would be guilty of great inhumanity towards them. 

" The very commencing act of freedom to the slave, is 
to place him in a condition still worse, if possible, both for 
his moral habits, his outward provision, and for the com- 
munity that embosoms him, than even that, deplorable as it 
was, from which he has been removed." Address to Col. 
Soc. in N. Carolina. Af Rep. III. p. 66. 

" What but sorrow can we feel at the misguided piety 
which has set so many of them free by death-bed devise, or 
sudden conviction of injustice V Address to Lynchburgh 
CqL Soc. Af. Rep. III. p. 193. 

" There are in the United States 238,000 blacks deno- 



MANUMISSION DISCOURAGED, 95 

minated free, but whose freedom confers on them, we 
might say, no privilege but the privilege of being more 
vicious and miserable than slaves can be." Rev. Mr. Ba- 
con of New-Haven. 7th Rep. p. 99. 

" Policy, and even the voice of humanity, forbade the 
progress of manumission." Af. Rep. IV. p. 268. 

"■ It would be as humane to throw them from the decks 
in the middle passage, as to set them free in our country." 
Af. Rep. IV. p. 226. 

Was Washington wanting in humanity, when he 
liberated all his slaves ; and was he surpassed in benevo- 
lence by his nephew, the President of the Society, who 
avowed his intention of never giving freedom to any of his? 
Was it " misguided piety" that induced Jefferson to set his 
free by his last will ? Was it an act of perfidious cruelty in 
the State of South-Carolina, to purchase the freedom of a 
slave, who had disclosed an intended conspiracy; thus 
under the pretence of rewarding him, perpetrating an act 
as inhuman as throwing a fellow being from the decks in 
the middle passage ? Is the recent act of North-Carolina, 
in paying $1,800 for the freedom of a slave, who had, with 
singular intrepidity, preserved a public building from fire, 
of the same character ? 

Much as we respect Mr. Bacon's character, we cannot 
but believe that could his sincerity be tested by his being 
compelled to choose between being a slave in Georgia, or a 
free black even in Canterbury, he would prefer the latter 
alternative. It is the more remarkable, that Mr. Bacon 
should have been led to make such unadvised assertions, 
when New-Haven itself, afforded full proof of their incor- 
rectness. Hear the testimony of his estimable and dis- 
tinguished fellow townsman, Professor Silliman. 

" We need not look far from home to see the pleasing 
effects of the benevolent and disinterested exertions of an 
eminent friend* of the Africans, aided by others of a 
kindred spirit — it is delightful to the benevolent mind, to 
see so many of our colored people living in neat and com- 
fortable dwellings, furnished in decent taste, and in sufficient 
fulness ; thus indicating sobriety, industry, and self-respect : 

* The Rev. S. S. Jocelin, an active and public opponent of the Colo- 
nization Society. 



96 SLAVERY EXCUSED. 

to see their children in clean attire, hastening on a Sabbath 
morning to the Sunday school, and on other days, with 
cheerful and intelligent faces, seeking the common school." 
Silliman's 4th of July Oration, 1832. 

The slave holder is farther instructed by the Society, 
that the continuance of slavery here, is at present, and 
under existing circumstances, unavoidable, and that he is 
perfectly excusable and innocent, in keeping his fellow 
men in bondage ; and that all the cruel laws relative to 
slavery are right and proper. Is all this calumny ? attend 
to the testimony. 

" Slavery is an evil entailed upon the present genera- 
tion of slave holders, which they must suffer, whether they 
will or not." Af. Rep, V. p. 179. 

" The existence of slavery among us, though not at all 
to be objected to our Southern brethren as a fault." Ad- 
dress of N. Y. Col. Soc. Af. Rep. VII. p. 136. 

May we ask, how came the States of Missouri, Alaba- 
ma, and Mississippi, which within thirty years were nearly 
in a state of nature, to be now thronged with slaves? 

" It (the Society) condemns no man because he is a 
slave holder." Editorial article— Af Rep. VII. p. 200. 

" Acknowledging the necessity by which its (slavery) 
present continuance, and rigorous provisions for its main- 
tenance, are justified." Af. Rep. III. p. 16. 

" It is the business of the free, their safety requires U 9 
to keep the slaves in ignorance." Proceedings of N. 
York Col. Soc. 2d Ann. 

" The laws of Virginia now discourage, and very 
wisely, perhaps, the emancipation of slaves." Speech of 
Mr. Mercer, V. President* I. Rep. 

" They (the Abolitionists) confound the misfortunes of 
one generation with the crimes of another." Af. Rep. 
VII. p. 202. 

" We all know, from a variety of considerations, which 
it is unnecessary to name, and in consequence of the policy 
which is obliged to be pursued in the Southern States, that 
it is extremely difficult to free a slave ; and hence the 
enactment of those laws, which a fatal necessity seems to 
demand." Af. Rep. II. p. 12. 

"I am not complaining of the owners of slaves: they 



SLAVERY EXCUSED. 97 

cannot get rid of them." Address before Hampden Col. 
Soc. Af. Rep. IV. p. 226. 

" There are men in the Southern States, who long to 
do something effectual for the benefit of their slaves, and 
would gladly emancipate them, did not prudence and com- 
passion forbid such a measure." I. Report, p. 100. App. 

" Suppose the slaves of the South to have the know- 
ledge of freemen, they would be free, or exterminated by the 
whites. This renders it necessary to prevent their instruc- 
tion, and to keep them from Sunday schools, or the means 
of gaining knowledge." Proceedings of N. York Col. 
Soc. 2d Ann. Rep. 

" The treatment of the slaves is in general as good as 
circumstances and the cruel necessity of the case will per- 
mit." Proceedings of N. York Col. Soc. 2d Ann. 

" We believe that there is not the slightest moral tur- 
pitude in holding slaves, under existing circumstances, in 
the South." Af. Rep. IX. p. 4. 

Thus do we find the whole system of American slavery 
justified on the tyrant's plea, necessity. But this is not 
all. The Scriptures themselves are wrested to confound 
those who recommend abolition. 

The President of the Geneva Colonization Society, 
S. M. Hopkins, Esq., in an address delivered 5th August, 
1834, and published by request of the Society, after citing 
various texts to prove slavery warranted by the Bible, thus 
goes on : 

" Here are then five places in the New Testament, 
where the duty of servants (slaves) is expressly and formally 
treated by way of precept, and one case of example, making 
six in all. In every one, the duty of obedience is insisted on, 
and in one or more, where the duty of masters is treated, 
there is not the least reference nor hint of the idea, that 
Christian masters should manumit their slaves ; much less 
that other Christians should preach manumission. But I 
go farther ; as I understand the Epistle to Timothy, and as 
it is understood by such commentators as I have consulted, 
there is an express injunction, applicable to those times and 
circumstances, not to preach manumission." 

We will not trouble ourselves at present with Mr. Hop- 
kins's theology ; but we may surely be permitted to inquire, 
9* 



98 COLONIZATION PROMOTES 

how it comes that the Constitution forbids Colonizationists 
to recommend and promote abolition, but gives them full 
liberty to oppose it? Why is the Constitution sacred, only 
when it guards the interests and soothes the conscience of 
the slave holder ; and why is it a thing of nought, when 
Colonizationists would empty the vials of their wrath upon 
the heads of those who proclaim the sinfulness of slavery, 
and the duty and policy of immediate emancipation.* 

Let us now scrutinize a little this plea of necessity, 
which is urged by Colonizationists with so much confidence 
in behalf of slavery. Does a Christian Society, do minis- 
ters of the gospel of Christ, maintain that it is ever neces- 
sary to violate the command of Jehovah — necessary to 
keep millions in ignorance of the revealed will of God 1 
Necessary to trample upon human rights, and to outrage 
the plainest principles of justice and humanity ? Do Pro- 
testants insist, that it is necessary to deny the Bible to more 
than one-third of the inhabitants of the Southern States ? 
What necessity required that Missouri should be a slave 
State ? What necessity multiplied the slaves in Alabama 
and Mississippi from three thousand to one hundred and 
eighty-two thousand, since the year 1800? What neces- 
sity prevented Kentucky from liberating her twelve thou- 
sand slaves in 1790, when New- York could liberate ten 
thousand in one day in 1827 ? What necessity will render 
Florida and Arkansas slave States? Why did not neces- 
sity prevent the abolition of slavery in South America, 
Mexico, and the West-Indies? 

The Society, whose moral influence is to free us from 
slavery, not only quiets the conscience of the slave holder, by 
showing the lawfulness of slavery, but it promises to en- 
hance the value of slave labor, and to divest it of a por- 
tion of that danger which usually attends it. Let us 
see how Colonization promotes the interests of slave holders ; 

*It is due to candor to state, that all the principles imputed in this 
work to Colonizationists, are not held by them indiscriminately. A few 
individuals have honorably and publicly disclaimed one or more of 
them. These disclaimers have however been made, we believe, without 
an exception, since the discussions excited bv Abolitionists. No doubt 
many members would indignantly reject the doctrines on which we 
have commented. The pious and well-intentioned supporters of the So- 
ciety, are just beginning to understand its true character, and hence the 
numerous converts from Colonization within the last twelve months. 



THE INTERESTS OP SLAVE HOLDERS. 99 

and let us attend, in the first instance, to Mr. Archer of 
Virginia. 

" He was not one of those (however desirable it might 
be, and was in abstract speculation) who looked to the 
complete removal of slavery among us. If that consumma- 
tion were to be considered feasible at all, it was at aperiod 
too remote to warrant the expenditure of any resources of 
contemplation or contribution now. The progress of slavery 
was subjected to the action of a law of the utmost regularity 
of action. Where this progress was neither stayed nor 
modified by causes of collateral operation, it hastened with 
a frightful rapidity, disproportioned entirely to the ordinary 
law of the advancement of population, to its catastrophe, 
which was repletion. 

" If none were drained away, slaves became, except 
under peculiar circumstances of climate and production, 
inevitably and speedily redundant, first to the occasions of 
prof table employment, and as a consequence, to the facility 
of comfortable provision for them. No matter what the hu- 
manity of the owners, fixed restriction on their resources 
must transfer itself to the comfort and subsistence of the 
slave. At this last stage, the evil in this form had to stop. 
When this stage had been reached, what course or remedy 
remained ? Was open butchery to be resorted to, as among 
the Spartans with the Helots? or general emancipation and 
incorporation, as in South America? or abandonment of 
the country by the masters, as must come to be the case in 
the West Indies ? 

" Either of these was a deplorable catastrophe. Could 
all of them be avoided, and if they could, how? There 
was but one way, but that might be made effectual, fortu- 
nately. It was to provide and keep open a drain for the 
excess of increase beyond the occasions of prof table employ- 
ment. This might be done effectually by extension of the 
plan of the Society. * * * * After the present class 
of free blacks had been exhausted by the operation of the 
plan he was recommending, others would be supplied for 
its action, in the proportion of the excess of the colored 
population it would be necessary to throw off, by the pro- 
cess of voluntary manumission or sale. This effect must 
result inevitably from the depreciating value of the slaves. 



100 COLONIZATION PROMOTES 

cess of voluntary manumission or sale. This effect must 
result inevitably from the depreciating value of the slaves, 
ensuing their disproportionate multiplication. This deprecia- 
tion would be relieved and retarded at the same time by the 
process. It was on grounds of interest, therefore, the most 
indispensable pecuniary interest, that he addressed him- 
self tO the PEOPLE AND LEGISLATURES OF THE SLAVE HOLD- 
ING states." 15th Report, p. 22. 

However we may be surprised at the indiscretion of the 
managers in printing and circulating this speech with their 
annual report, we cannot but admire its honest frankness. 
Here is no Colonization poetry, but plain common sense 
prose. No pictures of the African Elysium, — no anticipa- 
tions of the conversion of millions and millions of Pagans, 
but intelligent remarks on the true means of perpetuating 
slavery, and keeping up the price of slaves. Knowing the 
utter futility of abolishing slavery by Colonization, Mr. Ar- 
cher will not expend on that topic even his "contemplation." 
But the time will come when negroes will be so plenty that 
it will be difficult to find either work or food for them ; and 
this state of things, if not prevented, will lead to the aboli- 
tion of slavery. But the Society may prevent such a result 
by sending off the free blacks, and after they are gone, by 
sending off such slaves as may be manumitted ; and by 
keeping open this drain, the undue multiplication of slaves 
will be prevented, and their depreciation in the market 
arrested. 

Let us now attend to the managers themselves. In the 
2d Report, p. 9, they declare that they confidently believe 
that the " Colonization of the free people of color, will ren- 
der the slave who remains in America, more obedient, more 
faithful, more honest, and consequently more useful to his 
master." 

Thus does the only mode promote voluntary manumis- 
sion, by enhancing the value of slaves ! 

" By removing the most fruitful sources of discontent 
(free blacks) from among our slaves, we should render them 
more industrious and attentive to our commands ." Address 
of Putnam (Georgia) Col. Society. 

" What greater pledge can we give for the moderation 
and safety of our measures, than our own interests as slave 



THE SAFETY OF SLAVE HOLDERS- 101 

holders, and the ties that bind us to the slave holding com- 
munity to which we belong." Speech of Mr. Key, Vice 
Prest. 11th Report, p. 14. 

" The injury they (the free blacks) do to the slave hold- 
ers' property, by their influence upon his servants, would, 
if valued, amount to more than sufficient to convey them 
from us." Address of Rev. J. C. Young to Col Soc. Af 
Rep. IX. 59. 

" To remove these persons from among us, will increase 
the usefulness, and improve the moral character, of those 
who remain in servitude, and with ichose labors the country 
is unable to dispense.'' Address to a N. Carolina Col. Soc. 
Af. Rep. III. G7. 

" None are obliged to follow our example, and those 
who do not, will find the value of their negroes increased, by 
the departure of ours." Kentucky Luminary. 

" The free negroes corrupt our slaves. From what has 
been adduced, the expediency of removing this nuisance 
from the community is clearly inferable, both in relation to 
their interests and ours ; and this can only be attained by 
means of the Colonization Society." Internal improvements 
of South-Carolina, by Robert Mills, p. 15. 

So much for the moral influence'of the Society in abol- 
ishing slavery, by rendering it profitable. Now for its 
agency in rendering it safe. 

" The tendency of the scheme, and one of its objects, is 
to secure slave holders, and the whole Southern country, 
against certain evil consequences growing out of the present 
three-fold mixture of our population." Address of a Vir- 
ginia Col. Soc. Af Rep. IV. 274. 

"By removing these people, (free blacks,) we rid our-, 
selves of a large party who will always be ready to assist our 
slaves in any mischievous design they may conceive." Ad- 
dress to a Col. Soc. in Virginia. Af. Rep. I. 17.6. 

" Are they (the free blacks) Vipers, sucking our blood t 
We will hurl them from us." Address to Lynchburg Col, 
Soc. Af Rep. III. 201. 

" By thus repressing the rapid increase of blacks, the 
white population would be enabled to reach, and soon over- 
top them ; the consequence would be security." Af 
Rep. IV. 344. 



102 EMANCIPATION CONDEMNED. 

" The removal of every single free black in America, 
would be productive of nothing but safety to the slave 
holder." Af. Rep. III. 202. 

" So far from having a dangerous tendency, when pro- 
perly considered, it will be viewed as an additional guard 
to our peculiar species of property." New-Orleans Argus. 

" They (the objects of the American Colonization Soci- 
ety) are in the Jirst place to aid ourselves, by relieving us 
from a species of population (free blacks) pregnant with 
future danger." Speech of Gen. Harper, Vice President. 
7th Report, p. 7. 

"lama Virginian. I dread for her the corroding evil 
of this numerous caste, (free blacks.) I tremble for the 
danger of a disaffection spreading through their seduction, 
among our servants." Address of I. B. Harrison. Af 
Rep. III. 197. 

Thus does the Society aim at abolishing slavery, by de- 
claring it lawful ; increasing its profits, and lessening its 
dangers ; and as we shall presently see, covering with oblo- 
quy, and denouncing as fanatics, all who dissent from its 
assertion, that this is "the only possible mode" of relieving 
the country from slavery. 

And why is it the only possible mode ? Because the 
laws of most of the slave States prohibit manumission at 
home, and therefore no master in those States could liberate 
his slaves, did not the Society enable him to evade the law, 
by sending his slaves to Africa. But who made these laws ? 
Slave holders. Who alone can repeal these laws? Slave 
holders. Then slave holders prevent themselves from libe- 
rating their slaves ; and hence it is optional with them to 
grant manumission or not. Hence Colonization is not the 
only possible mode of effecting abolition, since the slave 
holders, if they pleased, might easily discover " a more 
excellent way." 

It will not probably be denied, that he who recommends 
a wicked act, or applauds it after it is committed, partici- 
pates in the guilt of it; and as by the confession of Coloni- 
zationists, the laws in question prevent abolition, those who 
advise or approve those laws, partake of the guilt of con- 
tinuing slavery. Let us now inquire in what relation i\m 
Colonization Society stands to these laws. 



EMANCIPATION CONDEMNED. 103 

In the first place, let it be recollected that several of the 
Legislatures by whom these laws have been enacted, or by 
whom they are kept in force, have decidedly. approved of 
the Society. Now listen to the official declaration of the 
Board of Managers. 

" The Managers could with no propriety depart from 
their original and avowed purpose, and make emancipation 
their object. And they would further say, that if they were 
not thus restrained by the terms of their association, they 
would still consider any attempts to promote the increase 
of the free colored population by manumission, unnecessary , 
premature, and dangerous" Memorial of the American 
Col. Soc. to the several State Legislatures. Af. Rep. II. 60. 

We find here an illustration of the remarks in our intro- 
duction, on the convenient restraints of the Constitution. 
The managers are restrained from promoting emancipation 
by the Constitution, but they are at perfect liberty to pro- 
mote the permanency of slavery, by denouncing manumis- 
sion. And to whom is this denunciation made ? To the 
very Legislatures who are striving to effect the same object 
by the laws we have mentioned. And yet Colonizationists 
mourn over the misfortune of the master who is prevented 
by law from liberating his slaves ! But perhaps the Ian- 
guage we have quoted was used inadvertently, and does not 
represent the sentiments of Colonizationists generally. Let 
us see. 

" This law, (a law of Virginia, by which a manumitted 
negro becomes again a slave if he remains twelve months 
in the State,) odious and unjust as it may at first view ap- 
pear, and hard as it may seem to bear upon the liberated 
negro, was doubtless dictated by sound policy, and its re- 
peal would be regarded by none with more unfeigned regret 
than the friends of African Colonization. It has restrained 
many masters from giving freedom to their slaves, and has 
thereby contributed to check the growth of an evil already 
too great and formidable." Memorial from Powhattan Col. 
Soc. to Virginia Legislature. 

" To set them (the slaves) loose among us, would be an 
evil more intolerable than slavery itself." Report of Ken- 
tucky Col Soc. Af Rep. VI. 81. 

" As long as our present feelings and prejudices exist, 



104 EMANCIPATION CONDEMNED. 

the abolition of slavery cannot be accomplished without the 
removal of the blacks." 2d Report N. York Soc. 

" If the question were submitted, whether there should be 
either immediate or gradual emancipation of all the slaves in 
the United States, without their removal, painful as it is to 
express the opinion, I have no doubt that, it would be un- 
wise to emancipate them." Speech of Mr. Clay, V. Presi- 
dent, to Kentucky Soc. Af. Rep. VI. 5. 

Here we find a Vice President of the Parent Society 
advocating perpetual slavery in preference to even gradual 
emancipation. 

" They (Colonizationists) entertain the opinion gene, 
rally, that if universal emancipation were practicable, nei- 
ther the interest of the master, the happiness of the slave, 
nor the welfare of the colony which they have at heart, 
would make it desirable." Mr. Barton's address to a Col. 
Soc. in Virginia. Af Rep. VI. 291. 

" Resolved, That we superadd our decided opinion that 
Colonization ought to keep equal pace with manumission 
of people of color throughout the United States." Proceed- 
ings of Col. meeting at Plattshurgh, N. Y., 4th July, 1833. 

" Any scheme of emancipation, without Colonization, 
they know to be productive of nothing but evil." Speech 
of Mr. Key, a Vice President. Af. Rep. IV. 300. 

" We would say, liberate them only on condition of 
their going to Africa or Hayti." Af. Rep. III. 26. 

" It is a well established point, that the public safety for- 
bids either the emancipation or the general instruction of 
the slaves." 7th Report, p. 94. 

" So long as we can hold a pen, we will employ it heart 
and hand, against the advocates of immediate emancipa- 
tion, or any emancipation that does not contemplate expa- 
triation." N. Y. Courier and Enquirer, a Col. paper, 10th 
July, 1834. 

" Emancipation, with liberty to remain on this side of 
the Atlantic, is but an act of dreamy madness." Speech of 
Mr. Custiss, 13th Report, p. 8. 

" What right, I demand, have the children of Africa to 
a homestead in the white man's country ?" Speech of Mr. 
Custiss, 14th Report, p. 21. 

It is a pity Mr. Custiss does not ask his conscience what 



THE SOCIETY PREVENTS MANUMISSION. 105 

right he has to confine a child of Africa to a homestead on 
his own plantation ; and why money was raised by public 
subscription to purchase permission for Philip Lee to leave 
a homestead to which he had no right ? 

What abundant cause for gratitude to Almighty God, 
have the Northern States, that the Colonization scheme was 
not devised some forty years sooner. Had the doctrines 
taught by the Society been then held by our statesmen and 
divines, the dark cloud of slavery would now be brooding 
over our whole land. 

We have seen that the whole influence of the Society 
and of the colonizing Legislatures, is to vindicate and pre- 
serve and enforce the laws against manumission. And now, 
after defending and strengthening this barrier against hu- 
man freedom, the Society glorifies itself for its benevolence 
in having opened a little crevice through which, in sixteen 
years, a few hundred captives, out of millions, have escap- 
ed ! Had the Society and its friends opposed these laws, 
they would long since have been swept away, and thousands 
and tens of thousands would have been free, who are now 
pining in bondage. In 1762, Virginia repealed her re- 
straining law, and in nine years 10,000 slaves were manu- 
mitted. The slave holders became alarmed, — their voca- 
tion was in danger of becoming disreputable, and the law 
was re-enacted. 

We have all heard much of the evils resulting from the 
traflick in ardent spirits, and we know that multitudes are 
endeavoring to suppress it, by insisting that it is sinful, and 
that Christian duty requires its immediate abolition. Now 
let us suppose a Society for promoting the abolition of this 
traflick to be formed on the model of the Colonization So- 
ciety, and ask ourselves how it would proceed, and what 
would be the prospect of its success. Such a Society would 
begin, by informing the venders, that it held their property' 
in rum sacred, and respected their right to sell it, — that as 
yet, it addressed arguments to no vender to induce him to 
abandon the traflick. That the traflick, it was true, was a 
political evil, but it was one they had unfortunately engaged 
in, and which the necessities of themselves and families 
compelled them to continue for the present, — that the Soci- 
ety condemned no man for being a rum-seller, — that it had 
10 ^ 



106 ANTI-ABOLITION ASSOCIATION. 

no connection with the fanatics and incendiaries who de- 
nounced the traffick as sinful, and demanded its immediate 
abolition. But, inasmuch as the Society knew that the 
venders were anxious to get rid of the rum they unfortu- 
nately possessed, it had appointed agents who would gratu- 
itously afford their aid in removing and emptying rum- 
casks, and it trusted the moral influence of this proffered 
aid would, in a century or more, effect the total abolition of 
the traffick. 

The absurdity of the conclusion, in the supposed case, 
is obvious ; and did not prejudice impair our vision, we 
should see an equal absurdity in the professed expectations 
of Colonizationists. But is our illustration a parallel case? 
No ; for our ideal Society does not profess to regard any 
other evil as greater than the indefinite continuance of the 
traffick, while the real one boldly and unequivocally de- 
clares for perpetual slavery in preference to emancipation, 
either immediate or gradual, without expatriation. Now if 
the expatriation of the whole body of slaves be both physi- 
cally and morally impossible ; if the slaves could not be 
transported and maintained in Africa, were the masters 
willing to surrender them; and if the masters would not 
surrender them, even if they could instantly be transported 
and maintained, then it follows irresistibly, that the moral 
influence of the American Colonization Society is to per- 
petuate slavery in the United States. And may we not 
confidently appeal to the consciences of our readers, and 
ask, will you not confess, that you have no hope of the abo- 
lition of slavery by expatriation? If this confession be 
made, and we flatter ourselves it will not be withheld, then 
again would we appeal to their consciences, and ask, 
whether it is possible to countenance the Colonization So- 
ciety while it holds its present principles, and pursues its 
present policy, without contributing to the indefinite con- 
tinuance of slavery? Before this question is answered, we 
request attention to the proofs that this Society is in fact 

AN ANTI-ABOLITION ASSOCIATION. 

On the 9th January, 1828, Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, 
in addressing the Society at its annual meeting, used the 



CENSURES ABOLITION SOCIETIES. 107 

following language : " The Society having declared that it 
is in no wise allied to any Abolition Society in America or 
elsewhere, is ready when there is need, to pass a censure 
upon such Societies in America." 11th Report, p. 14. 

The pledge thus given in behalf, and in the presence of 
the Society, was published and circulated by the Board of 
Managers. It was a gross violation of the Constitution, 
and an unblushing outrage on the multiplied professions of 
the Society, that its only object was the Colonization of free 
blacks. But we cannot understand the full meaning and 
unholy nature of this pledge, without adverting to the Abo- 
lition Societies to which it related. This pledge, be it re- 
membered, had no reference to the associations now known 
as Anti-Slavery Societies, and which are accused of a de- 
sign to destroy the Union — to drench the land in human 
gore, and to produce by marriage an amalgamation of color. 
Such Societies were unknown, such charges unheard of, 
when this pledge was given. The Abolition Societies which 
were to be censured, were Societies founded by Jay and 
Franklin, and which advocated gradual emancipation. 

The first Society ever formed, it is believed, for the 
abolition of slavery, was organized in the city of New- 
York, January 1785, under the presidency of John Jay. 
The principles maintained by this Society, may be gathered 
from the preamble to its Constitution. 

" The benevolent Creator and Father of all men, hav- 
ing given them all an equal right to life, liberty, and pro- 
perty, no sovereign power on earth can justly deprive them 
of either, but in conformity to impartial government, and 
laws, to which they have expressly or tacitly consented. It 
is our duty, therefore, as free citizens and Christians, not 
only to regard with compassion the injustice done to those 
among us, who are held as slaves, but to endeavor, by law- 
ful means, to enable them to share equally with us in the 
civil and religious liberty with which an indulgent Provi- 
dence has blessed these States, and to which these our 
brethren are by nature as much entitled as ourselves." 

The next Abolition Society was that of Pennsylvania, 
founded in 1787, under the presidency of Franklin. 
Slave holders were expressly excluded. The Constitu- 
tion declares, that it has pleased " the Creator of the 



108 FORMER ABOLITION SOCIETIES. 

world to make of one flesh all the children of men," 
and that it is the especial duty of those who acknowledge 
the obligations of Christianity, to use such means as are in 
their power to extend the blessings of freedom " to every 
part of our race." 

Abolition Societies gradually multiplied, and exercised 
a salutary influence in promoting emancipation at the 
North. But they were not confined to the North ; they 
soon sprang up in the slave States, and scattered and feeble 
rays of light began to pierce the dense cloud which brooded 
over the Southern country. Unity of action and of pur- 
pose, was eecured by triennial conventions of delegates from 
the several Societies. No organized opposition had ever 
been offered to these associations. The moral sense of 
the community, unperverted by Colonization, would not 
then have tolerated the scenes we have since witnessed. 
The respect in which Abolition Societies were held, is 
evinced by the following extract from the journals of Con- 
gress : 

" House of Representatives, 18th Feb. 1809. 
" Resolved, that the Speaker be requested to acknowledge 
the receipt and acceptance of Clarkson's History of Slavery, 
presented by the American Convention, for promoting the 
abolition of slavery, and improving the condition of the 
Africans, and that the said work be deposited in the libra- 
ry." The Speaker accordingly returned an official letter 
of thanks to the Convention. 

Only three months before Mr. Harrison, as herald of the 
Colonization Society, proclaimed war against Abolition 
Societies, the Convention met at Baltimore, the capital 
of a slave State. To this Convention delegates or communi- 
cations were sent from the following Abolition Societies, viz : 
New- York, Andover, Mass. 

Rhode-Island, Williams College, Mass. 

Pennsylvania, Loudon Co. Virginia, 

Western Pennsylvania, N. Carolina, with 40 branches, 
Maryland, with 5 branches, Delaware, 
Tennessee, Centreville, Penn. 

West Tennessee, Brownsville, do. 

Munro Co. Ohio. 

This Convention, among other measures, petitioned 



CHARGES AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 109 

Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia, and exhorted the friends of Abolition to use their 
efforts to procure " the removal of all existing legal impedi- 
ments in the way of educating the people of color." Such 
was the promising state of public feeling, at the very mo- 
ment when the Colonization Society announced its 
crusade against Abolition. The vigor, and constancy 
with which it has been carried on to the present time, 
are known to all who have watched its progress. The 
Abolition Societies, and their conventions, have with- 
ered under the " censure" of their powerful enemy, and 
have shrunk from public notice. Within the last two 
years, they have been partially succeeded by more sturdy 
associations, named Anti-Slavery Societies, which, instead 
of quailing beneath the frowns of their foe, have dared to 
grapple with him in mortal conflict, and to stake the hopes 
of freedom on the issue. If, in this struggle, Abolitionists 
have not always distinguished themselves by their courteous 
bearing, let it be recollected, that they believe the happi- 
ness of millions depends on their efforts; and, also, that by 
their haughty adversary, they have been treated as wretches 
who deserve punishment; not as the generous and disin- 
terested champions of the oppressed and friendless. Let 
us observe the manner in which they are assailed by mem- 
bers of a religious Society. 

"It (the Society) is nowise mingled or confounded 
with the broad sweeping views of a few fanatics in America, 
who would urge us on to the sudden and total abolition of 
slavery." Af. Rep. III. 197. 

" Come ye Abolitionists, away with your wild enthusiasm, 
your misguided philanthropy." Af Rep. VII. 100. 

" Resolved, that we view all attempts to prejudice the 
public mind, or excite the popular feeling, on the subject of 
slavery, as unwise and injurious, and adapted to perpetuate 
the evil which it is proposed to eradicate." Col. Meeting at 
Northampton, Mass. Af Rep. VIII. 2S3. 

After a public discussion of the Colonization scheme 
in Utica, the Common Council came to the rescue of the 
Society, by discharging resolutions against the Abolitionists. 
For example : 

" Whereas, certain individuals now in our city, are dis- 
10* 



110 CHARGES AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 

turbing the peace of the good citizens thereof, by inculcating- 
sentiments which we deem demoralizing in themselves, 
and little short of treason towards the government of our 
country," &,c. 

" Resolved, that, in the opinion of this meeting, it is 
the solemn duty of every patriot and philanthropist, to dis- 
countenance and oppose the efforts of Anti-Slavery So- 
cieties." Col. Soc. of Middletown, Conn. 6th March, 
1834. 

It would have been of course, unconstitutional to aid 
these efforts ; but it seems the Society had full authority to 
oppose them. In short, with Colonization Societies, every 
thing is constitutional that is expedient, and nothing that is 
not. 

"The emancipation, to which this resolution directs 
your attention, is not that unconstitional and dangerous 
emancipation, contemplated by a few visionary enthusiasts, 
and a still fewer number of reckless incendiaries among us." 
Speech of Chancellor Walworth at Col. Meeting in N. 
York, 9th Oct. 1833. 

" I avail myself of this opportunity, to enter my solemn 
protest against the attempts which are making by a few 
fanatics. Let us talk no more of nullification ; the doc- 
trine of immediate emancipation is a direct and palpable 
nullification of that Constitution which we have sworn to 
support." Speech of D. B. Ogden at New-York Col. Meet- 
ing. 

" The great object of the founders (of the Society) was 
to do good : not in the way that modern fanatics propose, 
by increasing injury and sealing oppression." Speech of 
Hon. T. Freelinghuysen, V. President at Neic-York Col. 
Meeting. 

The Abolitionists in New- York, gave notice of a meet- 
ing for forming a City Anti-Slavery Society. In reference 
to this notice, the chairman of the Executive Committee of 
the New-York Colonization Society, Mr. Stone, published 
in his paper, 2d Oct. 1833, the following : 

" Is it possible, that our citizens can look quietly on, 
while the flames of discord are rising ? while even our 
pulpits are sought to be used for the base purpose of en- 
couraging scenes of bloodshed in our land. If we do, 



RIGHTS OF ABOLITIONISTS INVADED. Ill 

can we look our Southern brethren in the face and say, we 
are opposed to interfering with their rights? No, we can- 
not." 

The hint thus kindly given, was readily taken, and a 
mob of five thousand scattered the Abolitionists. After 
another mob, in July, had assaulted the dwellings and 
temples of Abolitionists, this officer of a Christian benevo- 
lent Society, thus stated the condition on which Abolition- 
ists might be permitted to enjoy the common rights of 
American citizens, security of person, and freedom of 
speech, the press, and religious worship. 

" While then our civil authorities should receive the aid 
of every good citizen, in their efforts to put down the mobs 
now nightly engaged in deeds of violence, yet there should 
be a distinct understanding, that the protection of law, and 
the aid of the military can only be enjoyed or expected, on 
condition, that the causes of these mischiefs shall be 
abated, and the outrages upon public feeling, from the 
forum, the pulpit, and the press, shall no more be 
repeated by these reckless incendiaries." Commercial Ad- 
vertiser, 11th July, 1834. 

Another Colonization Editor* published the same 
day, and while the mob were committing their grossest 
outrages, the following article : 

" Now we tell them, (the Abolitionists) that when they 
openly and publicly promulgate doctrines, which outrage 
public feeling, they have no right to demand protection of 
the people they insult. Ought not we ask our city authori- 
ties to make them understand this — to tell them, that they 
prosecute their treasonable and beastly plans at their 
own peril?" N. Y. Courier and Enquirer, 11th July, 
1834. 

On conditions similar to those proposed by these gentle- 
men, the Roman emperors were ever ready to afford pro- 
tection to the Christian martyrs ; nor did the Spanish Inqui- 
sition require more, than that none should "promulgate 
doctrines" it disapproved. 

Far be it from us to insinuate, that the conduct of these 
two editors was in conformity with the advice or wishes of 
any respectable Colonizationists ; and candor requires the 

* Mr. James Watson Webb. 



112 INTIMIDATION INTENDED. 

acknowledgment, that we have never heard it justified ; 
but it is unfortunately true, that the insults they have poured 
upon Abolitionists, have been countenanced by the example 
of gentlemen from whom better things were expected. All 
this violence and obloquy are not without an object ; and 
that object is intimldation. Utterly vain is the hope of 
maintaining the cause of Colonization, or of suppressing that 
of Abolition, by discussion. In every instance in which Colo- 
nizationists have ventured to meet their opponents in 
public disputation, they have invariably retired with di- 
minished strength. Hence great efforts have been made 
by Colonizationists, and by the advocates of slavery, to 
prevent the public from even listening to the facts and argu- 
ments adduced by the Abolitionists. After a mob of five 
thousand had assembled to prevent the formation of the 
New-York Anti-Slavery Society — after the most unfound- 
ed calumnies had been spread through the community 
against its members, the Society published ail address, ex- 
plaining their real sentiments and objects. One would 
have thought it an act of common justice, to give this ad- 
dress a candid perusal ; but such an act would not have 
been expedient, and accordingly the zealous editor of the 
Commercial Advertiser, thus endeavored to prevent it. 

"We are quite sure, that a discerning public will con- 
sign it to oblivion, by abstaining from a purchase of the 
pestilent document. Their curiosity, we hope, will not 
overstep their discretion, in furthering the purposes of the 
authors, by its dissemination. Let this flagitious address 
descend to the tomb of the Capulets. The address in ex- 
tenso, ice have not read." 

The Abolitionists, on the contrary, are so far from /ear- 
ing" the effects of discussion, that they are ever anxious to 
promote it ; and when an acrimonious Colonization pamph- 
let* appeared against them, they provokingly advertised it 
for sale, and urged the public to read it.t 

It has been thought more easy to silence, than to an- 
swer the Abolitionists ; and hence pains have been taken to 
prevent the public from listening to them, by representing 

* Reese's Review. 

t See the New- York Emancipator. 



INFIDEL SUPPORT. 113 

them, sometimes as fools and fanatics, and at others as de- 
signing wretches contemplating the most flagitious crimes. 

In the war now waging between the Abolitionists and 
Colonizationists, a third party has come to the aid of the 
latter. Those who maintain the sinfulness of slavery, and 
the safety and duty of immediate emancipation, plant them- 
selves on scriptural ground, and urge the promises, and 
threats, and commands of the word of God. They pro- 
fessedly act as Christians, and only as Christians; and it 
cannot be supposed that the infidel portion of the commu- 
nity view with indifference an opportunity of wounding 
Christianity through its zealous disciples. At the same 
time, the absence of Christian motive as a principle of the 
Colonization scheme, and the countenance given by that 
scheme to most unchristian prejudices, naturally invite anti- 
christian support. Certain it is, that many infidel news- 
papers are zealous advocates of Colonization, and that the 
mobs of our cities are always ready to espouse the cause of 
the Society. 

There is no evidence, that with the exception of 
certain editors, the mobs which disgraced the city of New- 
York the last summer, were instigated by members of the 
Society ; yet these mobs were its avowed champions. 
The first mob assembled on the 9th July, at the Chatham- 
street Chapel, the place in which some anti-slavery meet- 
ings had recently been held ; and breaking open the doors, 
took possession of the building. They then organized, and 
appointing a chairman, passed resolutions approving of the 
Colonization Society ; and by a formal vote, adjourned till 
the next meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, — a very sig- 
nificant hint. The following guarded notice of this trans- 
action, appeared next day in one of the journals. 

" From the non-assemblage of the persons who had de- 
signed to occupy the Chapel, it was evident that the objects 
of the meeting had been abandoned, and the friends of 
Colonization thereupon entered, organized a meeting, passed 
resolutions in favor of their own opinions, and peaceablv 
dispersed." N. Y. Daily Advertiser. 

The mob did indeed adjourn as a Colonization meeting, 
but they had too much business on their hands to disperse. 
They immediately proceeded to vindicate the honor of the 



114 



INFIDEL SUPPORT. 



American name, by mobbing the Bowery Theatre, in re- 
venge for some insulting expressions said to have been used 
by an English actor. 

" After finishing their work at the Bowery Theatre, the 
mob, (says the New- York Journal of Commerce,) in a very 
excited state, repaired to the residence of Lewis Tappan, 
(a prominent Abolitionist,) and attacked it with bricks and 
stones. The door, window-blinds, shutters, &c, were soon 
demolished, after which the mob entered, broke up the fur- 
niture, and made a bonfire of it in the street." Such was 
the commencement of four days of riot and outrage, by the 
admirers of " the benevolent Colonization system." The 
managers of the city Colonization Society, mortified at the 
character and conduct of their new allies, published a card 
declaring that the " tumultuous meetings" at which certain 
resolutions had been passed approving the objects of the 
New- York Colonization Society, il had been held without 
any previous knowledge of the Board," and recommending 
to every friend of the cause of Colonization to abstain 
" from all participation in proceedings subversive of the 
rights of individuals, or in violation of the jmblic peace." 
When before have the friends of a religious and benevolent 
cause needed such a recommendation? 

The Journal of Commerce, a Colonization paper, as- 
signs infidelity as one of the causes of the riots. 

" It was noticed, (it observes,) as a fact full of instruc- 
tion, that last Sunday night, when many of the churches 
and lecture rooms were closed for fear of the mob, Tamma- 
ny Hall was brilliantly lighted up for the meeting of infi- 
dels, who carried on their mummery without the slightest 
apprehension of danger. The buildings which have been 
attacked, are six churches, (belonging to four different de- 
nominations,) one school-house, occupied as a church, three 
houses of clergymen, a house and store, occupied by elders 
of churches, and a number of houses occupied by colored 
families. Thus, with the exception of some colored per- 
sons, the vengeance of the mob has been exclusively di- 
rected against churches, ministers, and elders. At the 
sacking of Mr. Tappan's house, a fellow was heard to say, 
that every rascal of a church member ought to be thrown 
off the dock, or to that effect. We think, therefore, we 



INFIDEL SUPFORT. 115 

see inscribed on the banner of this guilty throng, enmity 

TO THE CROSS OF CHRIST." 

Yet this guilty throng commenced its operations with 
approving the Colonization Society. 

In Utica, after a public discussion on Colonization, a 
mob assembled and burned in effigy a clergyman who had 
taken part against the Society ; and also a layman who 
had become distinguished for his zeal in the temperance 
cause;, and a bundle of Temperance Recorders was com- 
mitted to the flames. 

The following is from the New- York Courier and En- 
quirer, 12th May, 1834, and is part of an article in defence 
of the Colonization Society, and in vituperation of the 
Abolitionists. 

"Colleges and institutions are every year founded, not 
for the purposes of general education, but to initiate a new 
race of monks and fanatics in the arts and mysteries of 
clerical ambition, to teach them how best to subjugate the 
human mind, and render female weakness subservient to 
well disciplined Jesuitism. One half of our colleges are 
nothing more than seminaries for educating uncompromi- 
sing bigots," &,c. &c. In this very same article, we are 
assured that "the Colonization Society holds out the only 
rational and practicable mode of bringing about the eman- 
cipation of the blacks;" and we are warned against the 
"accursed, and disorganizing, and incendiary devices," of 
the Abolitionists. 

Soon after the mobs, a poem was published, entitled 
" Fanaticism Unveiled." The author, in his advertisement, 
declaims against the " crusade which is now waged by a 
few wretched fanatics against the Colonization Society." 
Of the religious character of this poetical champion of the 
Society, some estimate may be made from the following 
lines : — 

"And do not dunces spend their cash on 
Such things as we have brought in fashion? 
Fictitious tales in aid of piety, 
Invented for the Tract Society. 
Sectarian Seminaries made 
To teach the true fanatic trade ; 
And schools where infancy is told, 
That while one world is paved with gold, 
Another lying somewhat lower, 
With children's skulls is sprinkled o'er." 



116 NOT A RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 

The Society unquestionably comprises a vast number 
of as pure and devoted Christians as can be found in this, 
or any other country ; and we are fully persuaded, they 
verily believe, that in supporting Colonization, they are 
doing God service. The zealous co-operation they are now 
receiving from persons of very opposite character from 
themselves, should lead them to inquire whether they may 
not be mistaken. 

It certainly does not follow, that a system must be bad, 
because bad men support it ; but it does follow, that when 
mobs and infidels espouse a particular object, it is because 
that object is recommended to them by other than religious 
considerations. Yet Colonizationists are fond of represent- 
ing their Society as a religious institution; and the minis- 
ters of the Gospel are earnestly urged to preach annual 
sermons in its behalf. 

That multitudes of religious men belong to the Society, 
is not denied, but the participation of such men in an 
object, does not necessarily render it a religious object : 
otherwise the slave trade was a Christian commerce, because 
John Newton was a slave holder ; and Free Masonry must 
be a holy fraternity, since it can boast the names of more 
good men, than were ever enrolled in the ranks of Coloni- 
zation. But in what sense can the Society be termed a 
religious one? It is not professedly founded on anyone 
principle of the Gospel of Christ. It exercises no one act 
of benevolence towards the free blacks in this country ; 
and in transporting them to Africa, it is by its own confes- 
sion removing nuisances. It takes no measures to Christ- 
ianize Africa, but landing on its shores an ignorant and 
vicious population. It employs no missionary, it sends no 
Bible, and it cannot point to a single native, converted t& 
the faith of Jesus, through its instrumentality. On the 
contrary, may we not, in reference to the facts disclosed in 
the preceding pages, affirm, without the imputation of 
bigotry or prejudice, that the general influence of the Soci- 
ety, is decidedly anti-christian. We have seen that it 
practically tends to the debasement and persecution of the 
free blacks , to the hardening of the consciences of the 
slave holders, and to the indefinite continuance of slavery. 

The objects of the Society, as stated in the declarations 
of its orators, are of such vast importance, and such godlike 






REPUTATION OF THE SOCIETY ABROAD. 117 

benevolence, that it is no wonder good men have been so 
dazzled by the gorgeous visions presented to their imagina- 
tions, as to have omitted to scrutinize the machinery by 
which these visions are to be realized. 

No one surely needs an apology for having believed in 
Colonization, when Wilberforce could thus express himself. 

"You have gladdened my heart by convincing me, 
that sanguine as had been my hopes of the happy effects to 
be produced by your institution, all my anticipations are 
scanty and cold compared with the reality." Letter to Mr. 
Cresson. loth Report, p. 15. 

No one surely needs to blush at acknowledging that he 
has been deceived in the Society, since Wilberforce 
placed his name at the head of a protest against it. The 
following extract from this protest will show how truly the 
Society is now estimated by British philanthropists. 

"Our objections to it, are briefly these : while we be- 
lieve its pretexts to be delusive, we are convinced that its 
rea/ effects are of the most dangerous nature. It takes its 
root from a cruel prejudice and alienation in the whites 
of America, against the colored people, slave or free. 
This being its source, the effects are what might be expect- 
ed — that it fosters and increases the spirit of caste, already 
so unhappily predominant, that it widens the breach be- 
tween the two races — exposes the colored people to great 
practical persecution, in order to force them to emigrate : 
and finally is calculated to swallow up and divert that feel- 
ing which America, as a Christian and a free country, cannot 
but entertain, that slavery is alike incompatible with the 
law of God, and the well being of man, whether cf the 
enslaver, or the enslaved. We must be understood utterly 
to repudiate the principles of the American Colonization 
Society." 

The opponents of slavery in England, as well as here, 
at first hailed the Society as an auxiliary, and the Anti- 
slavery Societies there, in the warmth of their zeal, began 
to remit contributions to its funds : by these same people, 
the Society is now regarded with detestation. Probably no 
religious periodical, possesses in an equal degree, the con- 
fidence of the religious community here, as the London 

11 



118 REPUTATION OF THE SOClETV. ABftOAfi. 

Christian Observer. The Observer formerly commended 
the Society. Hear the present sentiments of its late Editor, 
the distinguished Z. Macaulev, Esq. M. P. 

" The unchristian prejudice of color, which alone has 
given birth to the Colonization Society, though varnished 
over with other more plausible pretences, and veiled under 
a profession of Christian regard, for the temporal and 
spiritual interests of the negro, which is belied by the whole 
course of its reasonings, and the spirit of its measures, is so 
detestable in itself, that I think it ought not to be tolerated ; 
but on the contrary ought to be denounced and opposed by 
all humane, and especially all pious persons in this country." 
Letter of 14th July, 1833, to Mr. Garrison. 

For a quarter of a century, William Allen, a London 
quaker, has been prominent in every good work, and his 
name is familiar to all acquainted with the great Catholic 
institutions of England. This eminent and zealous philan- 
thropist thus writes : 

" Having heard thy exposition of the origin and main 
object of the American Colonization Society, at the meet- 
ing on the 13th instant, at Exeter Hall, and having read 
their own printed documents, I scarcely know how adequately 
to express my surprise and indignation, that my correspon- 
dents in North America should not have informed me of 
the real principles of the said Society ; and also, that Elliott 
Cresson, knowing as he must have known the abominable 
sentiments it has printed and published, should have conde- 
scended to become its agent." Letter 15th, of 7th Month, 
1833. 

Mr. Buxton, the successor of Mr. Wilberforce as the 
parliamentary leader in the cause of Abolition thus expresses 
himself: 

" My views of the Colonization Society you are aware 
of. They do not fall far short of those expressed by my 
friend Mr. Cropper, when he termed its objects diabolical." 
Letter of July J 2th, 1833. 

But is it only in Britain, that good men have found 
themselves disappointed in the Society? Who compose 
our present Anti-slavery Societies ? Pious conscientious 
men, who, with scarcelv an exception, were formerly advc^ 



CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 



119 " 4 



cates of Colonization. A clergyman of Massachusetts, in 
the following passage expresses the sentiments of a nume- 
rous and increasing body. 

" I have been constrained to withdraw my confidence 
and co-operation from this scheme. It is a scheme in 
which I was once deeply interested. I have spoken, and 
preached, and written and taken contributions in its behalf. 
I did not then understand the real nature and tendency of 
the scheme. I meant well in espousing it, but I now see 
my error and my sin ; and though it was a sin of igno- 
rance, I desire to repent of it." 

Almost daily do we hear of Colonizationists awaking as 
from a dream, and expressing their astonishment and regret 
at the delusion into which they had fallen. 

To the Christian members of the Society, we would 
now address ourselves, and ask, have we not proved enough 
to induce you to pause, to examine, and to pray, before you 
longer lend your names, and contribute your funds to the 
purposes of Colonization ? Do no secret misgivings of 
conscience now trouble you ; and are you perfectly sure 
that in supporting the Society, you are influenced by the 
precepts of the Gospel, and not by prejudice against an 
unhappy portion of the human family ? If, on a full 
investigation of the subject, you discover that Colonization 
is not what you believed and hoped it was, remember that 
it is your duty to obviate, as far as possible, by a frank and 
open declaration of your opinion, the evil your example has 
done. Be not ashamed, be not slow to follow Wilberforce 
in entering your protest against the Society. If that Soci- 
ety leads to the degradation and oppression of the poor 
colored man — if it resists every effort to free the slave — if 
it misleads the conscience of the slave holder, you are 
bound, your God requires you to oppose it, not in secret, 
but before the world. Soon will you stand at the judgment 
seat of Christ ; there will you meet the free negro, the 
slave, and the master — take care lest they all appear as 
witnesses against you. 



PART II. 

AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY. 



CHAPTER I. 

Principles of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Character of Ame- 
rican Slavery. 

The principles professed by the American Anti-Slavery 
Society, are set forth in the following articles of its Consti- 
tution, viz : — 

Article 2. The objects of this Society, are the entire 
abolition of slavery in the United States. While it admits 
that each State, in which slavery exists, has by the Consti- 
tution of the United States, the exclusive right to legislate 
in regard to its abolition in that State, it shall aim to con- 
vince aH our fellow citizens by arguments addressed to 
their understandings and consciences, that slave-holding is 
a heinous crime in the sight of God ; and that the duty, 
safety and best interests of all concerned, require its im- 
mediate abandonment, without expatriation. The Society 
will also endeavor in a Constitutional way to influence Con- 
gress to put an end to the domestic slave trade ; and to abol- 
ish slavery in all those portions of our common country, 
which come under its control, especially in the District of 
Columbia, and likewise to prevent the extension of it to 
any State that may hereafter be admitted to the Union. 

Art. 3. This Society shall aim to elevate the charac- 
ter and condition of the people of color, by encouraging 
their intellectual, moral and religious improvement, and by 
removing public prejudice; that thus they may according to 
their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with 
the whites, of civil and religious privileges ; but the Soci- 

11* 



122 



AMERICAN SLAVERY 



ety will never in any way, countenance the oppressed in 
vindicating their rights, by resorting to physical force. 

Art. 4. Any person who consents to the principles of 
this Constitution, who contributes to the funds of this So- 
ciety, and is not a slave-holder, may be a member of this 
Society, and shall be entitled to vote at its meetings." 

Here we have great moral principles frankly and un- 
equivocally avowed ; the objects to be pursued are dis- 
tinctly stated ; and none are permitted to join in the pur- 
suit of these objects without assenting to the principles 
which avowedly render their attainment desirable. The 
whole structure of the Society therefore, is totally different 
from the Colonization Society. This being founded on 
principle, that on expediency. This availing itself, only 
of certain professed motives, that inviting the co-operation 
of motives of all sorts, however contradictory. 

In order to judge of the fitness of the objects contem- 
plated by the Society, we must first inquire into the sound- 
ness of the principles by which they are recommended. 

The first great principle of the Society, and indeed the 
one from which all the others are deduced, is the sinful- 
ness of slavery. To determine whether slavery as it exists 
in the United States is sinful, we must know what it is. 
Where an institution is unavoidably liable to great abuses, 
those abuses may fairly be taken in account, in estimating 
its true character ; but in order to avoid all captious objec- 
tions, we will now inquire, what are the lawful, or rather legal 
features of American slavery, and we will leave wholly out 
of view, all acts of oppression and cruelty not expressly 
sanctioned by law. The following definitions of Ame- 
rican slavery, are, it will be perceived from high author- 
ity. 

" A slave is one who is in the power of a master to 
whom he belongs. The master may sell him. dispose of 
his person, his industry, his labor; he can do nothing, pos- 
sess nothing, nor acquire any thing but which must belong 
to his master." Louisiana Code, Art. 3. 

" Slaves shall be deemed, taken, reputed and adjudged 
to be chattels personal in the hands of their masters and 
possessors, to all intents and purposes whatsoever." Laws 
of South . Carolina — Brevard' s D iges t , 229 . 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 123 

It will be observed that these definitions apply to slaves 
without distinction of sex or age. 

But not only are those now in servitude, but their chil- 
dren after them, the subjects of these definitions. 

The law of South-Carolina says of slaves, " all their 
issue and offspring born or to be born, shall be, and they 
are hereby declared to be and remain forever hereafter 
absolute slave.?, and shall follow the condition of the 
mother." 

Slavery is not confined to color. Mr. Paxton a Vir- 
ginia writer, declares that, " the best blood in Virginia, 
flows in the veins of slaves." In the description lately 
given of a fugitive slave, in the public papers, it was stated, 
" He has sometimes been mistaken for a white man." The 
following from a Missouri paper, proves that a white man, 
may, without a mistake be adjudged a slave. 

" A case of a slave suing for his freedom, was tried a 
few days since in Lincoln County, of which the following 
is a brief statement of the particulars : A youth of about ten 
years of age sued for his freedom on the ground that he 
was a free white person. The court granted his petition 
to sue as a pauper upon inspection of his person. Upon 
his trial before the jury he was examined by the jury and 
by two learned physicians, all of whom concurred in the 
opinion that very little if any trace of negro blood could be 
discovered by any of the external appearances. All the 
physiological marks of distinctions which characterize the 
African descent had disappeared. 

" His skin was fair, his hair soft, straight, fine and 
white, his eyes blue, but rather disposed to the hazle-nut 
color ; nose prominent, the lips small and completely cover- 
ing the teeth, his head round and well formed, forehead 
high and prominent, the ears large, the tibia of the leg 
straight, the feet hollow. Notwithstanding these eviden- 
ces of his claims, he was proven to be the descendant of a 
mulatto woman, and that his progenitors on his mother's side 
had been and still were slaves ; consequently he was found 
to be a slave." 

The laws of South-Carolina and Virginia expressly 
recognize Indian slaves. 

Not only do the laws acknowledge and protect existing 



124 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



slavery, but they provide for reducing free persons to here- 
ditary bondage. In South-Carolina.jfoes are imposed on 
free negroes for certain offences, and in default of pay- 
ment, they are made slaves. If a colored citizen of any 
other State enters Georgia, he is fined, and if he cannot 
raise the money, he is sentenced to perpetual slavery, and 
his children after him. In Maryland if a free negro mar- 
ries a white, the negro becomes a slave. In almost every 
slave State, if a free negro cannot prove that he is fire, he 
is by law sold at public auction as a slave for life. This 
is both law and practice in the district of Columbia, and 
with the sanction of the Congress of the United States. In 
no civilized country but the slave States, are children pun- 
ished for the crimes of their parents ; but in these, the 
children of free blacks, to the latest posterity are condemn- 
ed to servitude for the trivial offences, and often for the 
most innocent acts of their ancestors. 

It necessarily follows from the legal definitions we have 
given of a slave, that he is subjected to an absolute and irre- 
sponsible despotism. 

The master has in point of fact the same power over 
his slave, that he has over his horse. Some i'ew laws there 
may be, forbidding the master to treat his slave with cruel- 
ty, and so the common Jaw every where forbids cruelty to 
beasts ; but it is far easier to enforce the latter than the 
former. Any spectator of cruelty to a beast, may ordina- 
rily be a witness against the offender ; but a slave may be 
mutilated or murdered with impunity in the presence of hun- 
dreds, provided their complexions are colored : and even 
should the crime be proved by competent testimony, the 
master is to be tried by a court and jury who are all inter- 
ested in maintaining the supreme authority of slave-hold- 
ers. But although no laws can in fact restrain the power 
of the master, yet laws to a certain degree, indicate what 
kind of treatment is tolerated by public opinion. Thus 
when we find the laws of South-Carolina limiting the time 
which slaves may be compelled to labor, to fifteen hours a 
day, we may form some opinion of the amount of toil which 
Southern masters think it right to inflict upon the slaves ; 
and when we recollect, that the laws of Maryland, Virginia 
and Georgia forbid that the criminals in their penitentia- 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 125 

ries shall be made to labor more than ten hours a day ; we 
discover the relative place which white felons, and unof- 
fending slaves, occupy in the sympathies of slave-hold- 
ers. 

The slave is, at all times, liable to be punished at the 
pleasure of his master ; and although the law does not war- 
rant him in murdering the slave, it expressly justifies him 
in killing him, if he dares to resist. That is, if the 
slave does not submit to any chastisement, which a brutal 
master may of his sovereign pleasure choose to inflict, he 
may legally be shot through the head. 

In South-Carolina, if a slave be killed " on a sudden 
heat or passion, or by undue correction," the murderer is 
to pay a fine aud be imprisoned six months. What would 
be thought of such a punishment for the murder of a 
white apprentice ? 

In Missouri, a master is by law expressly authorized to 
imprison his slave during pleasure, and thus may a human 
being be legally incarcerated for life without trial, or even 
the allegation of a crime. The despotism of the slave 
holder is a negociable despotism ; it is daily and hourly 
bought and sold, and may at any moment be delegated to 
the most brutal of the species. 

The slave, being himself property, can own no pro- 
perty. He may labor fifteen hours a day, but he acquires 
nothing by his labor. In South-Carolina, a slave is 
not permitted to keep a boat, or to raise and breed for his 
own benefit, any horses, cattle, sheep, or hogs, under 
pain of forfeiture, and any person may take such articles 
from him. 

In Georgia, the master is fined thirty dollars for suffer, 
ing his slave to hire himself to another for his own benefit. 
In Maryland the master forfeits thirteen dollars for each 
month that his slave is permitted to receive wages on his 
own account. 

In Virginia, every master is finable who permits a 
slave to work for himself at wages. In North-Carolina, 
" all horses, cattle, hogs, or sheep, that shall belong to any 
slave, or be of any slave's mark in this State, shall be seized 
and sold by the County Wardens." 

In Mississippi, the master is forbidden, under the pe- 



126 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



nalty of fifty dollars, lo let a slave raise cotton for himself, 
"or to keep stock of any description." 

Such is the anxiety of the slave laws to repress every 
benevolent desire of the master to promote in the slightest 
degree the independence of the slave. 

Slaves, being property, are like cattle liable to be 
leased and mortgaged by their owners, or sold on execution 
for debt. 

A slave having no rights, cannot appear in a court of 
justice to ask for redress of injuries. So far as he is the 
subject of injury, the law regards him only as a brute, and 
redress can only be demanded and received by the owner. 
The slave may be beaten, (robbed he cannot be) his wife 
and children may be insulted and abused in his presence, 
and he can no more institute an action for damages, than 
his master's horse. But cannot he be protected by his 
master's right of action ? No. The master must prove 
special injury to his property, to recover damages, Any 
man may, with perfect impunity, whip another's slave, 
unless he so injure him as to occasion " a loss of service, 
or at least a diminution of the faculty of the slave for bodily 
labor." Such is the decision of the Supreme Court of Ma- 
ryland. In Louisiana, if a third person maim a slave, so 
that he is " forever rendered unable to work," the offender 
pays to the owner the value of the slave, and is also to be 
at the expense of his maintenance ; but the unfortunate 
slave, mutilated or crippled for life, receives not the slight- 
est compensation. The master's right of action is a pro- 
tection to his property , not to the comfort or security of the 
slave; indeed, it tends to degrade the latter to the level of 
the other live stock on his master's farm. 

A necessary consequence of slavery, is the absence of 
the marriage relation. No slave can commit bigamy, be- 
cause the law knows no more of the marriage of slaves, 
than it does of the marriage of brutes. A slave may, 
indeed, be formally married, but so far as legal rights and 
obligations are concerned, it is an idle ceremony. His 
wife may, at any moment, be legally taken from him, 
and sold in the market. The slave laws utterly nullify 
the injunction of the Supreme Lawgiver — " What God 
hath joined, let not man put asunder." 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 127 

Of course, these laws recognize not the parental relation 
as belonging to slaves. A slave has no more legal au- 
thority over his child, than a cow over her calf. 

The Legislatures of the slave States, when legislating 
respecting slaves, seem regardless alike of the claims and 
the affections of our common nature. No right is more 
sacred, or more universally admitted, than that of self-pre- 
servation ; but the wretched slave, whether male or female, 
is denied the right of self-defence against the brutality of 
any person whomsoever having a white skin. Thus the 
law of Georgia declares, " if any slave shall presume to 
strike any white person, upon trial or conviction before the 
Justice or Justices, according to the directions of this act, 
shall, for the first offence, suffer such punishment as the 
said Justice or Justices shall in their discretion think fit, 
not extending to life or limb ; and for the second offence, 
suffer DEATH." 

The same law prevails in South-Carolina, except that 
death is the penalty for the third offence. 

In Maryland, the Justice may order the offender's ears 
to be cropped. In Kentucky, " any negro, mulatto, or In- 
dian, bond or free," who " shall at any time lift his 
hand in opposition to any white person, shall receive thirty 
lashes on his or her bare back, well laid on, by order of 
the Justice." 

In South-Carolina, " If any slave, who shall be out of 
the house or plantation where such slaves shall live, or shall 
be usually employed, or without some white person in com- 
pany with such slaves, shall refuse to submit to undergo the 
examination of any white person, it shall be lawful for any 
white person to pursue, apprehend, and moderately correct 
such slave ; and if such slave shall assault and strike such 
white person, such slave may be lawfully killed." 

We have seen that the slave laws regard the slave, so 
far as human rights and enjoyments, and social relations 
are concerned, as a mere brute ; we are now to see, that so 
far as he can be made to suffer for his acts, he is regarded 
as an intelligent and responsible being. 

Divine equity has established the rule, that the servant 
which knew not his master's will, and did commit things 
worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. If 



128 AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

there was ever a case to which this rule was applicable, it is 
to the unlettered, ignorant, brutalized slave, intentionally 
deprived of the ability to read the laws of God or man. A 
code of laws prepared for the government of such beings, 
one would suppose would be distinguished for its lenity; and in 
the mildness of its penalties, would form a striking contrast to 
a code for the government of the enlightened and instructed 
part of the community, whose offences would, of course, be 
aggravated by the opportunities they had enjoyed of learn- 
ing their duty. Alas, the slave code punishes acts not 
mala in se with a rigor which public opinion would not 
tolerate for a moment, if exercised towards white felons, and 
it visits crimes with penalties far heavier, when committed 
by the poor ignorant slave, than it does when they are per- 
petrated by the enlightened citizen. 

Thus in Georgia, any person may inflict twenty lashes 
on the bare back of a slave found without license off the 
plantation, or without the limits of the town to which he 
belongs. So also in Mississippi, Virginia, and Kentucky, 
at the discretion of a Justice. 

In South-Carolina and Georgia, any person finding more 
than seven slaves together in the highway without a white 
person, may give each one twenty lashes. 

In Kentucky, Virginia, and Missouri, a slave, for keep- 
ing a gun, powder, shot, a club, or other weapon whatsoever, 
offensive or defensive, may be whipped thirty-nine lashes by 
order of a Justice. 

In North-Carolina and Tennessee, a slave travelling 
without a pass, or being found in another person's negro 
quarters, or kitchen, may be whipped forty lashes, and every 
slave, in whose company the visitor is found, twenty 
lashes. 

In Louisiana, a slave for being on horseback, without 
the written permission of his master, incurs twenty-five 
lashes; for keeping a dog, the like punishment. 

By the law of Maryland, for "rambling," riding, or 
going abroad in the night, or riding horses in the day time, 
without leave, a slave may be whipt, cropt or branded on 
the cheek with the letter R, or otherwise punished, not ex- 
tending to life, or so as to render him unfit for labor." 

Such are a few specimens only of the punishment* 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



129 



Micted on slaves, for acts not criminal, and which it is 
utterly impossible they should generally know, are forbid- 
den by law. 

Let us now view the laws of the slave States in relation 
to crimes, and we shall find that their severity towards 
blacks and whites, is in inverse ratio to the moral guilt 
of the offenders. 

In Virginia, the laws have recently been revised, and by 
the revised code, there are seventy-one offences for which the 
penalty is death, when committed by slaves, and imprison- 
ment when by whites.* 

In Mississippi, the number of these offences are thirty- 
eight, or rather many of them are not punishable at all, 
when committed by whites: as, for instance, attempting to 
burn out-buildings, to commit forgery, to steal a horse, &,c, 
&c. 

Imprisonment of a slave as a punishment for crime, ex- 
cept in Louisiana, is utterly unknown in the slave States. 
To shut him up in prison, would be depriving his master of 
his labor, and burthening the public with his maintenance; 
it is, therefore, more economical to flog him for trifles, and 
to hang him for serious offences. 

Where human life is held so cheap, and human suffer- 
ing so little regarded ;. it is not to be expected that the dis- 
pensers of slave justice will submit to be troubled with all 
those forms and ceremonies which the common law has 
devised for the protection of innocence. We have seen 
that, in many instances, any ichite person may instanter 
discharge the functions of judge, jury, and executioner. 
In innumerable instances, all these functions are united in 
a single justice of the peace ; and in South-Carolina, Vir- 
ginia, and Louisiana, life may be taken, according to law, 
without the intervention of grand or petit jurors. In 
other States, a trial by jury is granted in capital cases ; 
but in no one State, it is believed, is it thought worth 
while to trouble a grand jury with presenting a slave. 
In most of the slave States, the ordinary tribunal for the 
trial of slaves charged with offences not capital, is com. 

* Arfenumeration of these offences, together with references to the 
statutes alluded to in this work, may be found in " Stroud's sketch of 
the slave laws." 

12 



130 AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

posed of justices and freeholders, or of justices only. A 
white man cannot be convicted of misdemeanor, except by 
the unanimous verdict of twelve of his peers. In Louisi- 
ana, if the Court is equally divided as to the guilt of a 
slave, judgment is rendered against him. 

In 1832, thirty-Jive slaves were executed at Charleston, 
in pursuance of the sentence of a court, consisting of 
two justices and five freeholders, on a charge of intended 
insurrection. No indictments, no summoning of jurors, 
no challenges for cause or favor, no seclusion of the triers 
from intercourse with those who might bias their judgment, 
preceded this unparalleled legal destruction of human life. 

The slave being considered a brute, in all cases, except 
where such a consideration might operate to his advantage, 
care is taken to prevent all such mental illumination as 
might assist him in recovering any portion of his rights. 
However much we may pride ourselves, as a nation, on the 
general diffusion of the blessings of education, it ought to 
be recollected, that these blessings are forcibly withheld 
from two millions of our inhabitants ; or that one-sixth of 
of our whole population is doomed by law to the grossest 
ignorance. 

A law of South-Carolina passed in 1800, authorises the 
infliction of twenty lashes on every slave found in an assem- 
bly convened for the purpose of" mental instruction," held 
in a confined or secret place, although in the presence of 
a white. Another law imposes a fine of c£100 on any per- 
son who may teach a slave to write. An act of Virginia, 
of 1829, declares every meeting of slaves at any school by 
day or night, for instruction in reading or writing, an un- 
lawful assembly, and any justice may inflict twenty lashes 
on each slave found in such school. 

In North-Carolina, to teach a slave to read or write ; 
or to sell or give him any book (Bible not excepted) or 
pamphlet, is punished with thirty-nine lashes, or imprison- 
ment, if the offender be a free negro, but if a white, then 
with a fine of $200. The reason for this law, assigned in 
its preamble is, that " teaching slaves to read and write, 
tends so excite dissatisfaction in their minds, and to pro- 
duce insurrection and rebellion." 

In Georgia, if a white teach a free negro or slave to read 



AMERICAN SLAVERY, 131 

or write, he is fined $590, and imprisoned at the discre- 
tion of the court; if the offender be a colored man, bond 
or free, he is to be fined or whipped at the discretion of the 
court. Of course a father may be flogged for teaching his 
own child. This barbarous law was enacted in 1829. 

In Louisiana, the penalty for teaching slaves to read or 
write, is one year's imprisonment. 

These are specimens of the efforts made by slave legis- 
latures, to enslave the minds of their victims ; and we have 
surely no reason to hope that their souls are regarded with 
more compassion. 

In vain has the Redeemer of the world given the com- 
mand to preach the gospel to every creature; his profess- 
ed disciples in the slave States have issued a counter order ; 
and as we have already seen, have by their laws, incapaci- 
tated 2,000,000 of their fellow-men from complying with 
the injunction, " search the Scriptures." Not only are the 
slaves debarred from reading the wonderful things of God 
— they are practically prevented with a few exceptions from 
even hearing of them. 

In Georgia, any justice of the peace may, at his dis- 
cretion, break up any religious assembly of slaves, and may 
order each slave present to be " corrected without trial, by 
receiving on the bare back, twenty-five stripes with a whip, 
switch or cow-skin." 

In South-Carolina, slaves may not meet together for the 
purpose of " religious worship" before sunrise or after sun- 
set, unless the majority of the meeting be composed of white 
persons, under the penalty of twenty lashes well laid on." 
As it will be rather difficult for the slave to divine before 
he goes to the meeting, how many blacks, and how many 
whites will be present, and of course which color will have 
the " majority," a due regard for his back, will keep him 
from the meeting. 

In Virginia, all evening meetings of slaves at any meet- 
ing-house, are unequivocally forbidden. 

In Mississippi, the law permits the master to suffer 
his slave to attend the preaching of a white minister. 

It is very evident that when public opinion tolerates 
such laws, it will not tolerate the general religious instruc- 
tion of the slaves. True it is, a master may carry or send 



132 AMERICAN SLAVERY, 

his slaves to the parish church, and true it is that some do 
attend, and receive benefit from their attendance. 

On this, as well as on every other subject relating to 
slavery, we would rather fall short of than exceed the truth. 
We will not assert there are no Christians among the slaves, 
for we trust there are some. When, however, we recollect;, 
that they are denied the Scriptures, and all the usual ad- 
vantages of the Sunday School, and are forbidden to unite 
among themselves in acts of social worship and instruction, 
and that almost all the sermons they hear, are such as are 
addressed to educated whites, and of course above their own 
comprehension, we may form some idea of the obstacles op- 
posed to their spiritual improvement. Let it be also re- 
collected, that every master possesses the tremendous pow- 
er of keeping his slaves in utter ignorance of their Maker's 
will, and of their own immortal destinies. And now with 
all these facts, and their consequences and tendencies in 
remembrance, we ask, if we do not make a most abundant 
and charitable allowance when we suppose that 245,000 
slaves possess a saving knowledge of the religion of Christ? 
And yet after this admission, one which probably no can- 
did person will think too limited, there will remain in the 
bosom of our country two millions of human beings, who, 
in consequence of our laws, are in a state of heathenism I 
But probably many will refuse their assent to this con- 
clusion, without further and more satisfactory evidence of 
its correctness. To such persons we submit the following 
testimony, furnished by slave holders themselves. In 
lcS31, the Rev. Charles C. Jones preached a sermon before 
two associations of planters in Georgia, one of Liberty 
County, and the other of Mcintosh County. This sermon 
is before us, and we quote from it. 

"Generally speaking they (the slaves) appear to us to 
be without God and without hope in the world, a nation 
op heathen in our very midst. — We cannot cry out against 
the Papists for withholding the Scriptures from the com- 
mon people, and keeping them in ignorance of the way of 
life ; for we withhold the Bible from our servants, and keep 
them in ignorance of it, while we mill not use the means to 
have it read and explained to them. The cry of our perish- 
ing servants comes up to us from the sultry plains as the? 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 133 

bend at their toil — it comes up to us from their humble cot- 
tages when they return at evening to rest their weary limbs 
— it comes up to us from the midst of their ignorance and 
superstition, and adultery and lewdness. We have mani- 
fested no emotions of horror at abandoning the souls of our 
servants to the adversary, the roaring lion that walketh 
about seeking whom he may devour." 

On the 5th December, 1833, a committee of the Synod 
of South-Carolina and Georgia, to whom was referred the 
subject of the religious instruction of the colored population, 
made a report which has been published, and in which this 
language is used. 

" Who would credit it, that in these years of revival and 
benevolent effort, in this Christian republic, there are over 
two millions of human beings in the condition of hea- 
then, and in some respects in a worse condition. From 
long continued and close observation, we believe that their 
moral and religious condition is such that they may justly 
be considered the heathen of this Christian country, and 
will bear comparison with heathen in any country in the 
world. The negroes are destitute of the Gospel, and ever 
will be under the present state of things. In the vast field 
extending from an entire State beyond the Potomac, to the 
Sabine river, and from the Atlantic to the Ohio, there are 
to the best of our knowledge not twelve men exclusvely de- 
voted to the religious instruction of the negroes. In the 
present state of feeling in the South, a ministry of their 
own color could neither be obtained nor tolerated. 

" But do not the negroes have access to the Gospel 
through the stated ministry of the whiles? We answer 
no; the negroes have no regular and efficient ministry; as 
a mattter of course, no churches ; neither is there sufficient 
room in white churches for their accommodation. We 
know of buijivc churches in the slave holding States built 
expressly for their use ; these are all in the State of Geor- 
gia. We may now inquire if they enjoy the privileges of 
the Gospel in their own houses, and on our plantations? 
Again we return a negative answer. They have no Bibles 
to read by their own firesides — they have no family altars ; 
and when in affliction, sickness, or death, they have no 
minister to address to them the consolations of the Gos- 

12* 



134 AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

pel, nor to bury them with solemn and appropriate ser- 
vices." 

In a late number of the Charleston (S. C.) Observer, a 
correspondent remarked : " Let us establish missionaries 
among our own negroes, who, in view of religious know- 
ledge, are as debasingly ignorant as any one on the coast 
of Africa ; for I hazard the assertion, that throughout the 
bounds of our synod, there are at least one hundred thousand 
slaves, speaking the same language as ourselves, who never 
heard of the plan of salvation by a Redeemer." 

The editor, instead of contradicting this broad asser- 
tion, adds : " We fully concur with what our correspondent 
has said respecting the benighted heathen among ourselves." 

Such is American slavery — a system which classes 
with the beasts of the field, over whom dominion has been 
given to man, an intelligent and accountable being, the in- 
stant his Creator has breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life. Over this infant heir of immortality, no mother has a 
right to watch — no father may guide his feeble steps, check 
his wayward appetites, and train him for future usefulness;, 
happiness and glory. Torn from his parents, and sold in 
the market, he soon finds himself laboring among stran- 
gers under the whip of a driver, and his task augmenting 
with his ripening strength. Day after day, and year after 
year, is he driven to the cotton or sugar-field, as the ox 
to the furrow. No hope of reward lightens his toil — the 
subject of insult, the victim of brutality, the laws of his 
country afford him no redress — his wife, such only in 
name, may at any moment be dragged from his side — his 
children, heirs only of his misery and degradation, are but 
articles of merchandize — his mind, stupified by his oppres- 
sors, is wrapped in darkness — his soul, no man careth for it — 
his body, worn with stripes and toil, is jat length committed 
to the earth, like the brute that perisheth. 

This is the system which the American Anti-slavery 
Society declares to be sinful, and ought therefore to be im- 
mediately abolished ; and this is the system which the 
American Colonization Society excuses, and which, it con- 
tends, ought to be perpetual, rather than its victims should 
enjoy their rights in " the white man's land." 

To one whose moral sense has not been perverted, it 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 135 

Would seem a temerity bordering on blasphemy, to contend 
that such a system can he approved by a just and holy 
God, or sanctioned by the precepts of his blessed Gospel. 
Slavery, we are told, is not forbidden in the Bible; but 
who will dare to say, that cruelty and injustice, and compul- 
sory heathenism are not ? 

We are often reminded, that St. Paul exhorts slaves to 
be obedient to their masters ; but so he does subjects to 
their rulers. If, in the one instance, he justified slavery, 
so did he despotism in the other. The founder of Chris- 
tianity and his apostles, interfered not with political 
institutions, but laid down rules for the conduct of indivi- 
duals; and St. Paul, in requiring masters to give their ser- 
vants that which is just and equal, virtually condemned the 
whole system of slavery, since he who receives what is just 
and equal cannot be a slave. If it was right in the time of 
St. Paul to hold white men as slaves, would it beTwrong to 
do so now 1 If slavery is lawful noiv, it must have been 
lawful in its commencement, since perseverance in wrong, 
can never constitute right. Let it be explained how free 
men with their posterity, to the latest generation, can now 
be lawfully reduced to slavery, and forever kept in igno- 
rance of the duties and consolations of Christianity, and we 
will unite with those who justify American slavery. 



CHAPTER II. 

Proposed objects and measures of the American Ami-SlaveTy Society— 
Censure of Abolitionists. 

The next great principle maintained by the Society is, 
that slavery being sinful, it ought immediately to cease. 
Admitting the premises, the conclusion seems irresistible. 
Sin is opposition to the will of our Creator and Supreme 
Lawgiver. His wisdom and goodness are alike infinite, 
and if slavery be inconsistent with his will, it must necessa- 
rily be inconsistent with the welfare of his creatures. Rea- 
son and revelation, moreover, assure us that God will 
punish sin ; and therefore to contend that it is necessary 



136 MEASURES PROPOSED BY ABOLITIONISTS. 

or expedient to continue in sin, is to impeach every attri- 
bute of the Deity, and to brave the vengeance of omnipo- 
tence. 

These principles lead the Society to aim at effecting the 
following objects, viz : 

1st. The immediate abolition of slavery throughout the 
United States. 

2d. As a necessary consequence, the suppression of 
the American slave trade. 

3d. The ultimate elevation of the black population to 
an equality with the white, in civil and religious privileges. 

But principles may be sound, and objects may be good, 
and yet the measures adopted to enforce those principles, 
and to attain those objects, may be unlawful. Let us then 
inquire, what are the measures contemplated by the So- 
ciety. 

Slavery exists under the authority of the State Legisla- 
tures, in the several States ; and under the authority of Con- 
gress in the District of Columbia, and in the United States' 
territories. 

The members of the Society are all represented in 
Congress, and the Constitution guarantees to them the right 
of petition. They will therefore petition Congress to ex- 
ercise the power it possesses, to abolish slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and the Territories. But the Society is 
not represented in the State Legislatures, and therefore pe- 
titions to them might be deemed officious, and would not pro- 
bably lead to any advantageous result. The Society will 
therefore use the right possessed by every member of the 
community, the right of speech and of the press. They 
will address arguments to the understandings and the con- 
sciences of their fellow citizens, and endeavor to convince 
them of the duty and policy of immediate emancipation. 
Legislatures are with us, but the mere creatures of the peo- 
ple, and when the people of the slave States demand the 
abolition of slavery, their Legislatures will give effect to 
their will, by passing the necessary laws. 

The means by which the Society will endeavor to secure 
to the blacks an equality of civil and religious privileges, 
are frankly avowed to be, the encouragement of their intel- 
lectual, moral, and religious improvement, and the removal 



CHARGES AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 137 

of existing prejudices against them. To prevent any mis- 
apprehensions of the real design of the Society, the Consti- 
tution expressly declares that the Society will never "in 
any way countenance the oppressed in vindicating their 
rights, by resorting to physical force.' 1 

Such are the principles and designs of those who are 
now designated as Abolitionists, and never since the settle- 
ment of the country, has any body of citizens been subjected 
in an equal degree, to unmerited, and unmeasured reproach. 

We have seen with what kind of temper Colonizntionists 
speak of free negroes, and we may well question, when we 
call to mind the obloquy they have heaped upon Abolition- 
ists, whether the latter are not in their opinion the 
greater nuisances. Much as the free negroes have suffered 
from the charges of the Society, still there have been 
limits to the invectives hurled against them. No chan- 
cellor has adjudged them to be "reckless incendiaries.* 
No counsellor, learned in the law, has charged them with 
being guilty of "a palpable nullification of that Constitution 
which they had sworn to support. "f No honorable Sena- 
tor has denounced them as " fanatics, increasing injury and 
sealing oppression. "| The chairman of the Executive 
Committee of the New- York Colonization Society, never 
asserted that they sought to use the pulpits " for the base 
purpose of encouraging scenes of bloodshed." || Nor did 
even the New- York Courier and Enquirer ever propose, 
that the city authorities should inform them, that they must 
prosecute " their treasonable and beastly plans at their 
own peril ;" in other words, that they should not be pro- 
tected from mobs.§ Nor, finally, has any city corporation 
accused them of holding sentiments, " demoralizing in 

* Speech of Chancellor Walworth of New-York. 

t Speech of D B. Ogden, Esq. of New-York- 

t Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen, of the Senate of the United States. 

II Commercial Advertiser, 2d Oct. 1833. 

§ Courier and Enquirer, lhh July, 1834. The same paper of 27th 
Dec. 1834, contains the following. — "We do say, and say in all the 
earnestness of conviction, that no meeting of Abolitionists should ever 
be suffered to go on with its proceedings in the United Slates. When- 
ever these wretched disturbers of the puhlic peace, and plotters of mur- 
der, rapine, and a dissolution of the union, have the impudence to 
hold a meeting, it is the duty of the rational citizens — always a vast 
majority in every place— to go to that meeting, and there, hy exercising 
Jhe right of every American citizen, make the expression of their dis- 



138 CHARGES AGAINST 

themselves, and little short of treason towards the govern- 
ment of our country."* 

But Abolitionists are neither astonished nor dismayed 
at the torrent of insult and- calumny that has been poured 
upon them, as though some strange thing had happened 
unto them. They remember that Wilberforce and his 
companions experienced similar treatment, while laboring 
for the abolition of the slave trade; and they remember 
also the glorious triumphs they achieved, and the full 
though tardy justice that has been done to their motives. 
A few brief reminiscences may be both useful and interest- 
ing. 

In 1776, the British House of Commons rejected a reso- 
lution, that the slave trade " was contrary to the laws of 
God and the rights of man." Yet that trade is now 
piracy by act of Parliament. 

In 17S8, on a bill being introduced into the House of 
Lords, to mitigate the horrors of the trade, Lord Chancellor 
Thurlow ridiculed "the sudden fit of philanthropy that had 
given it birth," and Lord Chandos predicted " the insurrec- 
tion of the slaves, and the massacre of their masters, from 
the agitation of the subject." 

In 1789, on a motion by Mr. Wilberforce, that the 
house would take the trade into consideration, a member 
pronounced the attempt to abolish it, " hypocritical, fanatic, 
and methodistical," and contended that Abolition must lead 
to "insurrections, massacre, and ruin." 

In 1791, Col. Tarleton, in the House of Commons, 
speaking of the proposed abolition of the slave trade, 
declared that " the measure was fit only for the bigotry and 
superstition of the twelfth century." Lord John Russel 
asserted that Abolition was " visionary and delusive, a 
feeble attempt without the power to serve the cause of 
humanity." 

Lord Sheffield could " trace in the arguments for AbolU 
tion nothing like reason, but on the contrary, downright 
phrensy." 

approbation and disgust, loud enough, and emphatic enough, to render 
it impossible for treason to go on with its machinations. Let sedition 
be driven from its den, as ofien as i:s minions congregate," 
* Resolutions of the Corporation of the city of TJtica, 



WILBERFORCE AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 139 

In 1792, the Abolitionists were denounced in Parlia- 
ment, as " a junto of sectaries, sophists, enthusiasts, and 
fanatics." 

In 1793, the Duke of Clarence, now William the IV., 
in his place in the House of Lords, declared the Abolition- 
ists to be " fanatics, and hypocrites," and so far violated 
parliamentary decorum, as to apply these epithets to Mr. 
Wilberforce by name. Yet has he lived to crown the labors 
and fulfil the hopes of Wilberforce, by giving his assent to 
the bill abolishing slavery in the British dominions. 

In 1804, Lord Temple declared in Parliament, that to 
abolish the slave trade, would be " the death warrant of 
every white inhabitant in the islands." 

Ten times did Mr. Wilberforce bring the subject of the 
abolition of the traffick before Parliament, and ten times 
was he doomed to witness the failure of his efforts ; nor 
was this detestable commerce suppressed, till thirty years 
after the first motion against it had been made in the House 
of Commons. Now, it is prohibited by the whole Christian 
world. 

When the Abolitionists of the present day, think of 
these facts, and recollect the reproaches heaped on Wilber- 
force and his colleagues, by a Chancellor and dignified 
Senators, well may they thank God and take courage. 
And who are these men, we would ask, whomColonization- 
ists are honoring with epithets similar to those which the 
advocates of the slave trade so liberally applied to the 
philanthropists who opposed it ? We will suffer an author- 
ity justly respected by the religious community to answer 
the question. 

Abbott's Religious Magazine, in an article on the mobs 
against the New-York Abolitionists, says, 

" The men against whom their fury was directed, were 
in general ministers of the Gospel, and other distinguished 
members of Christian churches. The more prominent ones, 
were the very persons who have been most honored in times 
past, on account of their personal exertions and pecuniary 
contributions for every benevolent purpose. Let the whole 
land be searched, and we believe that no men will be found 
to have done so much for the promotion of temperance, 
purity, and every benevolent and religious object." 



140 SINFULNESS OP SLAVERY. 

CHAPTER III. 

Fanaticism of Abolitionists. 

One of the most usual terms by which Abolitionists are 
designated by their opponents is, " the fanatics." It seems 
they are fanatics, because they believe slavery to be sinful. 
The grounds for this belief, have been already stated. But 
is the sinfulness of slavery a new doctrine; or has it been 
held only by weak and misguided men 1 Is Wilberforce 
to be denounced as a " wretched fanatic," because he 
declared, "slavery is the full measure of pure unsophisti- 
cated wickedness, and scorning all competition or compari- 
son, it stands alone without a rival, in the secure, undispu- 
ted possession of its detestable pre-eminence." 

Was Jonathan Edwards a poor "misguided" man, for 
thus addressing slave holders. " While you hold your 
negroes in slavery, you do wrong, exceedingly wrong — you 
do not, as you would men should do to you ; you commit 
sin in the sight of God : you daily violate the plain rights 
of mankind, and that in a higher degree than if you com- 
mitted theft or robbery." Were Porteus, Horseley, Fox, 
Johnson, Burke, Jefferson, and Bolivar, " miserable enthu- 
siasts?" Yet hear their testimonies. 

"The Christian religion is opposed to slavery, in its 
spirit and in its principles ; it classes men stealers among 
murderers of fathers and of mothers, and the most profane 
criminals upon earth." — Porteus. 

" Slavery is injustice, which no consideration of policy 
can extenuate." — Horseley. 

" Personal freedom is the right of every human being. 
It is a right of which he who deprives a fellow creature, 
was absolutely criminal in so depriving him ; and which he 
who withheld, was no less criminal in withholding." — Fox. 

"No man is by nature the property of another. The 
rights of nature must be some way forfeited, before they 
can be justly taken away." — Johnson. 

" Slavery is a state so improper, so degrading, and so 
ruinous to the feelings and capacities of human nature, that 
it ought not to be suffered to exist." — Burke. 



SINFULNESS OP SLAVERY. 141 

" The Almighty has no attribute which can take sides 
with us, in such a contest." (A contest with insurgent 
si ave s . ) — Jefferson. 

" Slavery is the infringement of all laws — a law having 
a tendency to preserve slavery, would be the grossest 
sacrilege." — Bolivar. 

We would take the liberty of recommending to the 
consideration of certain Methodist Colonizationists, the fol- 
lowing language of John Wesley. 

" Men-buyers, are exactly on a level with men-stealers. 
Indeed, you say, I pay honestly for my goods, and am not 
concerned to know how they are come by. Nay, but you 
are — you are deeply concerned to know that they are 
honestly come by. Otherwise you are a partaker with a 
thief, and are not a jot honester than him. But you know 
they are not honestly come by ; you know they are procured 
by means nothing so innocent as picking of pockets, or 
robbery on the highway. Perhaps you will say, I do not 
buy my negroes, I only use those left me by my father. So 
far is well, but is it enough to satisfy your conscience? 
Had your father, have you, has any man living a right to 
use another as a slave 1 It cannot be, even setting Reve- 
lation aside." 

But Abolitionists are fanatics, not merely because 
they believe slavery sinful, but also because they contend it 
ought immediately to be abolished. In their fanaticism on 
this point, as well as on the other, they are kept in counte- 
nance by a host of divines and statesmen, and by the una- 
nimous opinion of thousands, and tens of thousands of 
Christians. Men of all ranks and characters, from John 
Wesley to Daniel O'Connel, have exhibited this fanaticism 
— it has been borne by the republicans of France, the Ca- 
tholics of South America, the people of England, Scotland 
and Ireland. 

So long ago as 1774, John Wesley declared : "It can- 
not be that either war or contract can give any man such a 
property in another, as he has in his sheep and oxen. 
Much less is it possible that any child of man should ever 
be born a slave. If, therefore, you have any regard to 
justice, (to say nothing of mercy, nor the revealed will of 
God) render unto all their due. Give liberty to whom 
13 



142 SINFULNESS OF SLAVERV. 

liberty is due, that is, to every child of man, to every par- 
taker of human nature." 

Jonathan Edwards was fanatic enough to assert : — 
"Every man, who cannot show that his negro hath, by his 
voluntary conduct, forfeited his liberty, is obligated immedi- 
ately to manumit him." 

One million five hundred thousand persons petitioned 
the British Parliament for the total and immediate abolition 
of slavery. Indeed, Mr. O'Connel expressed the nearly 
unanimous sentiment of the whole nation, when he ex- 
claimed : 

" I am for speedy, immediate abolition. I care not 
what creed or color slavery may assume, I am for its total, 
its instant abolition." 

We have not yet exhausted the proofs of the alleged 
fanaticism of Abolitionists. It seems they are fanatics, for 
wishing to elevate the blacks to a civil and religious equality 
with the whites. Certain Colonization editors deny to 
Abolitionists, as we have seen, the constitutional right of 
freedom of speech, the press, and the pulpit, and even of 
peaceably assembling together ; and multitudes seem to 
think, that they have forfeited the protection of the ninth 
commandment. Men of all ranks have united in charging 
upon them designs which they indignantly disclaim, and in 
support of which, not a particle of evidence has been, or 
can be admitted. One of the designs falsely imputed to 
them, is that of bringing about an amalgamation of colors 
by intermarriages. In vain have they again and again de- 
nied any such design ; in vain have their writings been 
searched for any recommendation of such amalgamation. 
No Abolitionist is known to have married a negro, or to 
have given his child to a negro ; yet has the charge of 
amalgamation been repeated, and repeated, till many have, 
no doubt, honestly believed it. 

During the very height of the New- York riots, and as 
if to excite the mob to still greater atrocities, the editor of 
the Commercial Advertiser asserted, that the Abolitionists 
had " sought to degrade" the identity of their fellow citi- 
zens, as a " a nation of white men, by reducing it to the 
condition of mongrels." Com. Adv. 11th July, 1834. 

No one, in the possession of his reasoning faculties, can 



RIGHTS OF PEOPLE OF COLOR. 143 

believe it to be the duty of white men to select black wives ; 
and Abolitionists have given every proof the nature of the 
case will admit, that they countenance no such absurdity. 

But most true it is, that the Anti-Slavery Society avows 
its intention to labor for the civil and religious equality 
of the blacks. It has been found expedient to accuse it 
of aiming also at their social equality. He must be deeply 
embued with fanaticism, or rather with insanity, who con- 
tends, that because a man has a dark skin, he is, therefore, 
entitled to a reception in our families, and a place at our 
tables. 

We all know white men whose characters and habits 
render them repulsive to us, and whom no consideration 
would induce us to admit into our social circles ; and can 
it be believed, that Abolitionists are willing to extend to 
negroes, merely on account of their color, courtesies and 
indulgences, which, in innumerable instances, they with- 
hold, and properly withhold, from their white fellow citi- 
zens. But who pretends that, because a man is so disagree- 
able in his manners and person that we refuse to associate 
with him, that therefore he ought to be denied the right of 
suffrage, the privilege of choosing his trade and profession, 
the opportunities of acquiring knowledge, and the liberty of 
pursuing his own happiness 1 Yet such is our conduct to- 
wards the free blacks, and it is this conduct which the Soci- 
ety aims at reforming. The Society does contend, that no 
man ought to be punished for the complexion God has 
given him. And are not black men punished for the color 
of their skin ? Read the laws of the slave States relative to 
free negroes ; alas ! read the laws of Ohio, and Connecti- 
cut ; read the decision of Judge Dagget ; behold them ex- 
cluded from our institutions of learning, from our various 
trades and professions ; see them compelled to wander in 
poverty and in ignorance. Now, all this, Abolitionists con- 
tend is wrong, and their opposition to this system of perse- 
cution and oppression is fanaticism ! Be it so, but it is 
only modern fanaticism, and was not so regarded when in 
1785, John Jay declared : " I wish to see all unjust and 
unnecessary discriminations every where abolished, and that 
the time may soon come, when all our inhabitants, of every 



144 CHARGES AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 

color and denomination, shall be free and equal parta- 
kers OF OUR POLITICAL LIBERTY." 

It requires no great exercise of candor, to admit, that 
the prejudices existing against the blacks are sinful, when- 
ever they lead us to treat those unhappy people with in- 
justice and inhumanity. They have their rights as well as 
ourselves. They have no right to associate with us against our 
will, but they have a right to acquire property by lawful 
industry ; they have a right to participate in the blessings 
of education and political liberty. When, therefore, our 
prejudices lead us to keep the blacks in poverty, by restrict- 
ing their industry,* to keep them in ignorance, by ex- 
cluding them from our seminaries, and preventing them 
from having seminaries of their own ; to keep them in a 
state of vassalage, by denying them any choice in their 
rulers ; our prejudices are so far sinful, and so far only does 
the Anti-Slavery Society aim at removing them. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Incendiarism and treason of Abolitionists. 

It is not enough that Abolitionists should be represented 
as fanatics ; it has been deemed expedient, to hold them 
up to the community as incendiaries and traitors. The 
chairman of the Executive Committee of the New- York 
Colonization Society, thus speaks of the Anti-slavery Soci- 
ety, in his paper of the 9th June, 1834. " The design of 
this Society is, beyond a doubt, to forment a servile war in 
the South — they have been heard to say, blood must be shed, 
and the sooner the better — this Society owes its existence 
not to the love of liberty, or any particular affection for the 
slaves, but to cruel, and bitter hatred, and malignity." In 
an earlier paper, he accused Abolitionists of seeking to use 

* As one instance among the innumerable restrictions on the indus- 
try of these people, we may mention, that no free black, however 
moral and intelligent, can obtain a license in the city of New-York tQ 
tirive a cart ! 



CHARGES AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 145 

the pulpits, " for the base purpose of encouraging scenes 
of bloodshed." 

Here we find the most atrocious designs, imputed to 
men well known in the community for active benevolence 
and private worth ; and yet not a scintilla of evidence is 
offered in support of the extraordinary fact, that such men 
should harbor such designs. In this case the accused can 
of course offer only negative proof of their innocence. That 
proof is to be found first in their individual characters. 
Secondly, in the fact that many of the Abolitionists are 
emphatically peace men, that is, they hold the quaker doc- 
trine of the unlawfulness of war, and maintain that it would 
be sinful in the slaves to attempt effecting their freedom by 
force of arms,* and, thirdly, in the fundamental principle of 
the Society, that they will " never in any way countenance 
the oppressed in vindicating their rights, by resorting to 
physical force," and, fourthly, in the fact that Abolitionists 
as such, have in no instance recommended, or committed 
an act of unlawful violence. 

But by declaiming against slavery, Abolitionists are 
exciting odium against slave holders. If he who labors to 
render any particular sin, and those who are guilty of it odi- 
ous, is of course a " reckless incendiary," few are more justly 
and honorably entitled to this epithet, than the excellent 
Chancellor of New- York. Few have shown more intre- 
pidity in denouncing the venders of ardent spirits than this 
gentleman ; and Abolitionists, in their warfare against 
slavery, may well take a lesson from the example he has 
set them of an honest and fearless discharge of duty. Had 
the President of the New-York Temperance Society, and 
his associates exercised the same tenderness, and gentle- 
ness towards drunkards and venders, that he now shows 
towards slave holders, Temperance Societies would have 
checked the progress of drunkenness, as little as Coloniza 
tion promises to do that of slavery. 

Thomas Jefferson was not denounced as a reckless? 
incendiary, when in the midst of a slave population, he 
declared, that the Almighty had no attribute that could 
take side with the masters, in a contest with their slaves ; 

* This sentiment is held and avowed by'the much calumniai 
Garrison. 

13* 



146 CHARGES A*GAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 

nor did John Jay forfeit the confidence of his countrymen, 
when during the revolutionary war, he asserted " till Amer- 
ica comes into this measure, (abolition of slavery) her 
prayers to heaven for liberty will be impious ;" nor when 
addressing the Legislature of New- York, then a slave State, 
he told them that persons " free by the laws of God, are 
held in slavery by the laws of man." 

Nor were Franklin and his associates regarded as 
incendiaries for uniting in 1787, " to extend the blessings 
of freedom to every part of our race ;" or for refusing to 
permit slave holders to participate with them in this glori- 
ous effort. 

It was not sufficient to ridicule Abolitionists as fanatics, 
or to stigmatize them as incendiaries ; they must be branded 
as traitors and nullifiers. On the 9th October, 1833, a few 
days after a mob had assembled to deprive American citi- 
zens of one of their dearest constitutional rights, that of 
peaceably expressing their opinions, a numerous Coloniza- 
tion meeting, was convened in New- York for the purpose 
of taking advantage of the recent excitement, to raise the 
sum of $20,000. Gentlemen of high rank and influence 
addressed the meeting. Not a word of disapprobation of 
the late outrage escaped them ; on the contrary the violence 
offered to the Abolitionists, seemed to be extenuated if not 
justified, by the grievous charges now brought against them. 

The Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen, of New-Jersey, justly 
distinguished for his piety, his talents, and his station as a 
Senator of the United States, addressed the meeting. "In 
the course of his address," (says the N. Y. Commercial Ad- 
vertiser, 10th October,) " he dwelt with emphasis and just 
discrimination upon the proceedings of both cis and trans- 
Atlantic Abolitionists, who are seeking to destroy our happy 
Union." 

Chancellor Walworth, one of the most estimable citizens, 
and the highest judicial officer of the State of New- York, 
alluding to the emancipation to be effected by Colonization, 
remarked, " the emancipation, however, to which this reso- 
lution directs your attention, is not that unconstitutional 
and dangerous emancipation contemplated by a few vision- 
ary enthusiasts, and a still fewer reckless incendiaries 
among us, which cannot be effected without violating the 



CHARGES AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS. 147 

rights of property secured by that constitution, which we 
have sworn to support — that emancipation which would arm 
one part of the Union against another, and light up the 
flame of civil war in this now happy land." N. Y. Jour- 
nal of Commerce. 

David B. Ogden, Esq., a gentleman whose legal emi- 
nence, and whose purity of character justly give to his 
opinions peculiar weight, used the following language : " I 
avail myself of this opportunity, to enter my solemn protest 
against the attempts which are making by a few fanatics, 
who, without looking to the fearful consequences involved 
in such an issue, are advocating the immediate emancipa- 
tion of slaves in the Southern district. As citizens of the 
United States, we have no right to interfere with the claims 
of our Southern brethren to the property of their slaves. 
The Constitution of the United States recognises their right 
to it, and they have not only a sure and undeniable right 
to that property, but they are entitled to the full protection 
of the constituted authorities, in enforcing the enjoyment of 
it. Let us not talk any more of nullification ; the doctrine 
of immediate emancipation is a direct and palpable nullifi- 
cation of that constitution we have sworn to support." New- 
York Journal of Commerce. 

We might have selected many similar charges from 
other sources, but we have taken these on account of the 
high character of the accusers, and because the authors are 
all of the legal profession, and of course, aware of the im- 
portance of precision in all charges of a criminal nature. 
Not one of these gentlemen sitting as a criminal judge, 
would permit the merest vagabond to be put on his defence 
on a vague charge of stealing ; but would quash any in- 
dictment, that did not specify the time and place of the 
offence, and the property alleged to be stolen ; yet they did 
not scruple to hold up their fellow citizens and fellow 
Christians to the indignation of the public, on charges des- 
titute of all specification, and unsupported by a particle of 
testimony. 

Abolitionists are here accused of seeking to destroy our 
happy Union ; of contemplating a violation of property, 
secured by the Constitution they had sworn to support ; of 
pursuing measures which would lead to a civil war ; and 



148 



CHARGES AGAINST ABOLITIONISTS, 



of being guilty of direct and palpable nullification. When, 
where, how, were these crimes attempted ? What proof is 
offered ? Nothing, absolutely nothing, is offered but naked 
assertion. Is this equitable ? Is it doing to others as these 
gentlemen would wish others to do to them 1 

But it is not enough that Abolitionists should be de- 
nounced at home ; they must also be defamed abroad. 
Mr. Gurley, secretary of the American Colonization Soci- 
ety, writes a letter (1833) to Henry Ibbotson, Esq., Eng- 
land ; and, to give it greater weight, dates it, " Office of 
the Colonization Society, Washington." In this letter, 
he undertakes to enlighten his foreign correspondent on 
some of the "fundamental errors" of the Abolitionists, and 
ranks among them the opinion, "that, in present circum- 
stances, slavery ought to be abolished, by means not acting 
solely through, but, in a great degree against, and in defi- 
ance of the will of the South." Not a tittle of evidence is 
given, that such an opinion is held by a single individual 
in the United States. 

Mr. Jeremiah Hubbard, clerk of the Yearly Meeting of 
Friends ! in North-Carolina, in a letter to a friend in Eng- 
land, (Af. Rep. X. p. 3?) declares that " the primary ob- 
ject" of the Abolitionists " appears to be that of producing 
such a revolution in public sentiment as to cause the na- 
tional legislation to bear directly upon the slave holders, 
and to compel them to emancipate their slaves." 

Now, to all these charges, and to each and every of 
them, the members of the Anti-Slavery Society plead not 
guilty, and desire to be tried by God and their country. 
But, alas, no trial is vouchsafed to them : judgment has 
already been given, and execution awarded against them, 
without trial, and without evidence, solely on the finding of 
a voluntary and irresponsible inquest. All they can now 
do, is to ask for a reversal of the judgment as false and 
illegal, cruel and oppressive. 

It is, of course, difficult to disprove charges, where the 
counts of the indictment are utterly void of certainty, and 
where, from the nature of the case, none but negative testi- 
mony can be offered by the accused. We have a right to pre- 
sume, that the treason and nullification charged on Aboli- 
tionists, have reference to their efforts to procure the 



SLAVERY BY AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS. 149 

abolition of slavery in the United States. Now slavery 
exists under the authority of Congress, and also under the 
authority of State Legislatures. We will proceed in the first 
place to exhibit some facts relative to slavery in the former 
instance, and inquire how far the conduct of Abolitionists 
in respect to it, is treasonable and unconstitutional ; and 
we will then make the same inquiry as to their conduct in 
regard to slavery in the several States. 



CHAPTER V. 

Slavery under the authority of Congress. 

At the last census, there were in the territories of 
Arkansas, Florida, and the District of Columbia, twenty- 
six thousand one hundred and thirty-eight slaves. We 
will confine our remarks at present to slavery as it is exhi- 
bited at the seat of the federal government, and in a por- 
tion of territory, over which the Constitution of the United 
States has given to Congress " exclusive jurisdiction." In 
this District of ten miles square, there are six thousand 
slaves ; and the laws under which they are held in bondage, 
are among the most cruel and wicked of all the slave laws 
in the United States. This District, moreover, placed as it 
is under the immediate and absolute control of the national 
governmeut, is the great slave mart of the North American 
continent. 

In 1829, Mr. Miner, a member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, from Pennsylvania, introduced a resolution for 
the gradual abolition of slavery in the District. In his 
speech in support of this resolution, many appalling facts 
were disclosed. It appeared, that in the last five years, 
seven hundred and forty-two colored persons had been 
committed to the public prison of the city of Washington. 
And were these persons accused or convicted of crime ? 
Not one. Four hundred and fifty-two were lodged in the 
United States prison by slave traders, for safe keeping 
prior to exportation. The residue were imprisoned on 



150 SLAVERY BY* AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS. 

suspicion, real or affected, of being fugitive slaves ; and if 
not claimed as such, were by authority of Congress, to be 
sold as slaves for life, to raise money to pay their jail 
fees ! ! ! 

Such are the facts in regard to the prison in the Capi- 
tal of our confederate Republic ; and let it be recollected, 
that there are other prisons besides this in the District of 
Columbia. 

Of the practical operation of a system sanctioned by 
the laws of Congress, take the following sample : 

" Visiting the prison," says Mr. Miner, " and passing 
through the avenues that lead to the cells, I was struck 
with the appearance of a woman, having three or four chil- 
dren with her — one at the breast. She presented such an 
aspect of woe, that I could not help inquiring her story. It 
was simply this : she was a slave, but had married a man 
who was free. By him she had eight or nine children. 
Moved by natural affection, the father labored to support the 
children : but as they attained an age to be valuable in 
the market, perhaps ten or twelve, the master sold them. 
One after another was taken away and sold to the slave 
dealers. She had now come to an age to be no longer 
profitable as a breeder, and her master had separated her 
from her husband, and all the associations of life, nnd sent 
her and her children to your prison for sale. 55 

The law of the District, virtually the law of Congress. 
by which any colored person, without the allegation of a 
crime, may be seized and thrown into a cell ; and unless 
he can there prove his freedom, or is claimed by another, is 
sold for life as a slave to pay his jail fees, is for unblushing 
injustice and atrocity utterly unrivalled by any enactment 
of the despots of the old world. Mr. Miner states, that in 
1826-7 no less than five persons were thus sold into per- 
petual bondage, for jail fees. In one case, the United 
States Marshal lost his fees. Hear Mr. Miner. " In 
August, 1821, a black man was taken up and imprisoned 
as a runaway. He was kept confined until October, 1822 
— four hundred and five days. In this time, vermin, dis- 
ease, and misery had deprived him of the use of his limbs. 
He was rendered a cripple for life, and finally discharged 
as no one would buy 7dm. Turned out upon the world a 



AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 151 

miserable pauper, disabled by our means from gaining 
subsistence, he is sometimes supported from the poor house, 
sometimes receives alms in your streets." 

Mr. Miner thus speaks of the American slave trade, 
as carried on in the District. 

" The slave trade, as it exists and is carried on here, is 
marked by instances of injustice and cruelty scarcely ex- 
ceeded on the coast of Africa. It is a mistake to suppose 
it is a mere purchase and sale of acknowledged slaves. The 
District is full of complaints on the subject, and the evil is 
increasing. So long ago as 1802, the extent and cruelty 
of the traffick, produced from a grand jury, at Alexandria, 
a presentment so clear, so strong, and so feelingly drawn, 
that I shall make no apology for reading it to the House." 

Mr. Miner then read the following : 

" January Term, 1S02. 

" We the grand jury, for the body of the county of 
Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, present as a griev- 
ance the practice of persons coming from distant parts of 
the United States into this District, for the purpose of pur- 
chasing slaves, where they exhibit, to our view, a scene of 
wretchedness and human degradation, disgraceful to our 
characters as citizens of a free government. True it is 
that these dealers, in the persons of our fellow men, collect 
within this District from various parts, numbers of those 
victims of slavery', and lodge them in some place of confine- 
ment until they have completed their numbers. They are 
then turned out in our streets and exposed to view, loaded 
with chains as though they had committed some heinous 
offence against our laws. We consider it a grievance that 
citizens from distant parts of the United States should be 
permitted to come within this District, and pursue a traffick 
fraught with so much misery, to a class of beings entitled 
to our protection by the laws of justice and humanity ; and 
that the interposition of civil authority cannot be had to 
prevent parents being wrested from their offspring, and 
children from their parents, without respect to the ties of 
nature. We consider these grievances demanding legisla- 
tive redress" — that is, redress by Congress. 

As illustrative of the horrors and iniquities of the traffick, 
Mr. Miner informed the House of an incident that had 
occurred during the previous Session of Congress, A free 



152 AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 

colored man had married a slave — with the avails of his 
industry, he had, in the course of some years, purchased 
the freedom of his wife and children. He left home on 
business, and on his return found his house tenantless. 
His wife and children were missing. It was soon ascer- 
tained that they had been kidnapped by slave dealers, and 
confined in a private slave prison, in Alexandria ; from 
whence they had afterwards been sent to a distant market 
and were for ever lost to the husband and the father. 

" There is a man now in this District," continued Mr. 
Miner, " who was in the hands of the slave dealers, about 
to be sent off to the South, when he laid his hand on a 
block, and with an axe severed it from his arm. Can the 
slave trade, on the coast of Africa, be more horrible, more 
dreaded, or more prolific of scenes of misery ? To me all 
this is dreadful, and I think it should not be tolerated 
here." 

These statements were made in 1829. We will now 
exhibit the flourishing condition of the slave trade under 
the protection op Congress in 1834. The following ad- 
vertisements are all taken from the same sheet, printed a 
few months since at the capital of the American Republic : 
" Cash for Two Hundred Negroes. 

We will give cash for two hundred likely young negroes 
of both sexes, families included. Persons wishing to dis- 
pose of their slaves, will do well to give us a call, as we 
will give higher prices in cash, than any other purchasers 
who are now, or may hereafter come into this market. 
All communications will meet attention. We can at all 
times be found at our residence on Seventh-street, immedi- 
ately South of the Centre Market-house, Washington, 
D. C. Joseph W. Neal & Co. 

September 13, 1834. 

" Cash for Four Hundred Negroes, 
Including both sexes, from twelve to twenty-five years of 
age. Persons having likely servants to dispose of, will find 
it to their interest to give us a call, as we will give higher 
prices in cash than any other purchaser, who is now, or 
may hereafter come into this market. 

Franklin, Armfield & Co. 
Alexandria, September 1st, 1834." 



american slave trade. 153 

" Cash for one hundred negroes, 
Including both sexes, from twelve to twenty-five years of 
age. Persons having likely servants to dispose of, will find 
it to their interest to give us a call, as we will give higher 
prices in cash than any other purchaser who is now in this 
city. 

We can at all times be found at Isaac Beer's tavern, a 
few doors below Lloyd's tavern, opposite Centre Market, 
Washington city. All communications promptly attended 
to. — September 1st, 1834. Birch &l Jones." 

Thus we find cash offered for seven hundred slaves at 
one time, in the District of Columbia. Does any one 
inquire how these slaves are to be disposed of? We call 
his attention to the following advertisement in the same 
paper. 

Alexandria and New-Orleans Packets. 

Brig Tribune, Captain Smith, and Brig Uncas, Captain 
Boush, will resume their regular trips on the 20th of Octo- 
ber : one of which will leave this port every thirty days 
throughout the shipping season. They are vessels of the 
first class, commanded by experienced officers, and will at 
all times go up the Mississippi by steam, and every exer- 
tion used to promote the interests of shippers and comfort 
of passengers. Apply to the Captains on board, or to 

Franklin && Armfield. 

Alexandria, September 1st. 

Most grievously disappointed and astonished would any 
northern gentleman be, who had taken passage in one of 
these Alexandria and New-Orleans packets, on finding him- 
self on board a SLAVER. 

From a letter of the 23d of January, 1834, by the Rev. 
Mr. Leavitt, and published in New-York, it appears, that 
Mr. Leavitt visited the Slave-Factory of Franklin &, Arm- 
field at Alexandria, and was " informed by one of the Prin- 
cipals, that the number of slaves carried from the District 
iast year, was about one thousand, but it would be much 
greater this year. He expected their house alone, would 
ship at least eleven or twelve hundred. They have two 
vessels of their own, constantly employed in carrying slaves 
to New-Orleans." One of the vessels being in port, Mr. 
Leavitt went on board of her. " Her name is the Tribune. 
14 



154 AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 

The Captain very obligingly took us to all parts of the ves- 
sel. The hold is appropriated to the slaves, and is divided 
into two apartments. The after hold will carry about 
eighty women, and the other about one hundred men. On 
either side were two platforms running the whole length ; 
one raised a few inches, and the other halfway up to the 
deck. They were about five or six feet deep. On these 
the slaves lie, as close as they can stow away." 

In 1831, the Brig Comet, a slaver, belonging to this 
very house, and which had sailed from Alexandria with a 
cargo of one hundred and sixty slaves, was wrecked on 
Abaco, one of the Bahamas. 

But this vile commerce is carried on by land, as well as 
by water. Slave-coffles are formed at the prisons in the 
District, and thence set off on their dreary journey into the 
interior, literally in chains. A gentleman thus describes 
a coffle he met on the road in Kentucky. " I discov- 
ered about forty black men all chained together in 
the following manner : — each of them was hand-cuffed, 
and they were arranged in rank and file. A chain, per- 
haps forty feet long, was stretched between the two ranks, 
to which short chains were joined, which connected with 
the hand-cuffs. Behind them were, I suppose, thirty wo- 
men in double rank ; the couples tied hand to handy 

These coffles pass the very capitol in which are assem- 
bled the Legislators by whom they are authorised, and over 
whose heads is floating the broad banner of the Republic, 
too justly, alas! in such instances, described by an English 
satirist as 

"The fustian flag that proudly waves, 
In splendid mockery o'er a land of slaves." 

But the tale of iniquity and infamy is not yet ended. 
In the capitol of our confederated Republic, and with the 
sanction of the Congress of the United States of America, 

MEN ARE LICENSED FOR FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS TO DEAL IN 



HUMAN FLESH ! 



! 1 



And now we ask, ought these things so to be ? If not, 
who can remedy them ? There is no power on earth but 
Congress. No State Legislature can interfere with the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, or suppress the accursed traffick of which 
it is the seat. But who shall rouse Congress to action ? 



CONSTITUTIONAL POWER OF CONGRESS. 155 

Bo we wait for the interposition of slave holders 1 It is 
they who foster and encourage the slave trade. Do we 
appeal to the benevolence of the Colonization Society? 
Alas, all their sympathy is expended on the victims of the 
African slave trade; their Constitution authorises no in- 
terference with the American traffick. We have seen how 
far their first President himself, embarked in this traffick. 
No less than four Vice Presidents of the Society are at this 
moment members of Congress, and three of them Senators; 
but not a word has fallen from their lips, relative to slavery, 
or the slave trade in the District of Columbia. We are 
wrong — one of them has spoken. 

Mr. Charles Fenton Mercer, one of the most devo- 
ted officers of the Society, during the present session of 
Congress, voted to lay on the table, a petition presented to 
the House of Representatives for the abolition of slavery in 
the District, thus endeavoring to stifle all inquiry into those 
outrages upon human rights, and human happiness, which 
are perpetrated under the authority of the national Legisla- 
ture. Yet this very gentleman has distinguished himself, 
by his zeal against the African slave trade. 

The American Anti-Slavery Society avows its intention 
to endeavor to influence Congress to refuse any longer to 
authorise these abominations. And is it for this avowal, 
that its members are branded as traitors and nullifiers? If 
so, then they appeal for their justification, to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

By the Sth Section of the 1st Article of that instrument, 
Congress is authorised to " exercise exclusive legislation 
in all cases whatsoever," over the District of Columbia ; 
and by the first article of the amendments, Congress is 
restrained from making any law " abridging the freedom 
of speech or the press, or the right of the people peaceably 
to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress 
of grievances." Hence Abolitionists have believed, that 
Congress possess the right to abolish slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and that they themselves are authorised 
to petition that it may be abolished. Such a belief may, 
perhaps, indicate a " wild fanaticism ;" it seems, however, 
to be a fanaticism shared by the Legislatures of Pennsyl^ 



156 COxVSTITUTIONAL POWER OF CONGRESS. 

vania and New- York, and even by the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

In 1S23, the Pennsylvanian Legislature, by an almost 
unanimous vote, " Resolved, that the Senators of this 
State, in the Senate of the United States, are hereby re- 
quested to procure, if practicable, the passage of a law to 
abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, in such a man- 
ner as they may consider consistent with the rights of indi- 
viduals, and the Constitution of the United States." 

On the 9th January, 1S29, the House of Representa- 
tives "Resolved, that the Committee of the District of 
Columbia be instructed to inquire into the expediency, 
(not the right) of providing by law for the gradual aboli- 
tion of slavery in the District, in such manner that no indi- 
vidual shall be injured thereby." 

On the 28th January, 1829, a Committee of the New- 
York Assembly reported to the House : 

"Your Committee cannot but view with astonishment, 
that in the Capital of this free and enlightened country, 
laws should exist, by which the free citizens of a State 
are liable, without trial, and even without the imputation 
of a crime, to be seized while prosecuting their lawful 
business, immured in prison, and though free, unless 
claimed as a slave, to be sold as such for the payment of 
jail fees." The Committee recommended the following 
resolution, which was adopted by the Assembly: 

" Resolved, (if the Senate concur herein) that the 
Senators of this State, in the Congress of the United States, 
be and are hereby instructed, and the Representatives of 
this State are requested "to make every possible exertion, to 
effect the passage of a law for the abolition of slavery in the 
District of Columbia." 

And now again do we ask, are Abolitionists fanatics 
and incendiaries, and nullifiers, and traitors, and all that is 
foolish, and all that is wicked, because they wish Congress 
to suppress slavery, and the slave trade, in the District of 
Columbia? It cannot be, that Messrs. Frelinghuysen, 
Walworth, Ogden, and other upright and intelligent Coloniza- 
tionists have founded their grievous charges against Aboli- 
tionists on this ground. Let us then see how far Abolition^- 



VINDICATION OF ABOLITIONISTS. 157 

ists have merited these charges, for their endeavors to 
abolish slavery existing under the authority of the several 
(States. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Slavery under State Authority. 

We have seen, that the charges against the Abolition- 
ists are vague, and without specifications. Friend Hubbard 
and Mr. Gurley, however, give their accusations something 
of a tangible shape. The one asserts, that Abolitionists 
are laboring to abolish slavery, by causing the national 
legislation to bear directly on the slave holders, and compel 
them to emancipate their slaves : the other insists that it is 
one of their fundamental principles, that slavery is to be 
abolished in a great degree against and in defiance of the 
will of the South. The obvious and only meaning of 
these assertions is, that it is the wish and object of the 
Abolitionists to induce Congress to abolish slavery in the 
States. One would think that this charge, if true, might 
be easily proved : some petition, some recommendation 
might be quoted ; but so far from having ever seen any 
proof of this charge, we have never seen even an attempt to 
prove it. 

Perhaps the testimony on this point of a Vice-President 
of the American Colonization Society, and one who is 
equally distinguished by his moral worth, and his zeal in 
the cause of Colonization, will be listened to with respect by 
many of his brethren. Gerrit Smith, Esq., of New- York, 
in a speech at the Anniversary Meeting of the Society, 
20th January, 1834, speaking of the Anti-Slavery Society, 
remarked : "I believe that Society to be as honest as our 
own — as benevolent and patriotic as our own. Its mem- 
bers love their fellow men, and love their country, and love 
the union of the States, as sincerely and as strongly as we 
do ; and much as is said to the contrary on this point, I 
have never seen a particle of evidence, that the Anti-Sla- 
14* 



158 VINDICATION OF ABOLITIONISTS. 

very Society meditates any interference with the provisions 
of the laws of the slave States on the subject of slavery. It 
alleges, and I have no doubt sincerely, that it is by moral 
influence alone, and mainly by the changes wrought by the 
application of truth to the conscience, that it seeks to com- 
pass its object." 

It seems Mr. Smith has never seen a particle of evidence 
in support of the charge, that Abolitionists meditate interfe- 
rence with the laws of the slave States. They who make 
the charge, offer not a particle of evidence in its behalf 
We will now offer a mass of evidence in proof of its utter 
falsity. 

Our first witness is one whose competency and credi- 
bility will not be questioned ; and who, like Mr. Smith, is a 
Vice-President of the Colonization Society. The follow- 
ing is extracted from a letter to John Bolton, Esq. of Savan- 
nah, written for publication, by the Hon. Daniel Webster, 
and dated 17th May, 1833 : 

" In my opinion, the domestic slavery of the Southern 
States is a subject within the exclusive control of the 
States themselves ; and this, I am sure, is the opinion of 
the whole North. Congress has no authority to interfere in 
the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of them in 
any of the States. This was so resolved in the House of 
Representatives, in 1790, on the report of a committee 
consisting almost entirely of Northern members; and I do 
not know an instance of the expression of a different opinion 
in either House of Congress since. I cannot say that partic- 
ular individuals might not possibly be found, who suppose that 
Congress may possess some power over the subject, but I 
do not know any such persons, and if there be any, I am sure 
they are very i'ew. The servitude of so great a portion of 
the population of the South, is undoubtedly regarded at the 
North as a great evil, moral and political, and the discus- 
sions upon it, which have recently taken place in the 
Legislatures of several of the slave-holding States, have 
been read with very deep interest. But it is regarded, 
nevertheless, as an evil, the remedy for which lies loith those 
Legislatures themselves, to be provided and applied, accord- 
ing to their own sense of policy and duty. The imputations 
which you say, and say truly, are constantly made against 



VINDICATION OF ABOLITIONISTS. 159 

the North, are, in my opinion, entirely destitute of any just 
foundation." 

Thus we find that Mr. Webster, living in Boston, the seat 
of the New-England Anti-Slavery Society, a fellow-towns- 
man of Garrison's, and surrounded by Abolitionists, knows 
nothing of the milliners denounced by Mr. Ogden — nothing 
of the men who Mr. Gurley says are for freeing the slaves 
in defiance of the will of the South — nothing of those who 
the North-Carolina quake?' tells us, are for bringing the 
" National Legislation" to bear upon emancipation. 

And has Daniel Webster, a sworn sentinel on the 
ramparts of the Constitution, been sleeping at his post; and 
is it to more faithful and more intelligent watchmen, that 
we owe the discovery of the meditated treason? 

Mr. Webster's letter contains, as far as it goes, the 
political creed of the Abolitionists, and we may chal- 
lenge the whole Colonization Society to name a single Ab- 
olitionist, who dees not most heartily assent to its doctrines, 
The New-York Emancipator transferred the letter to its 
columns, remarking " Mr. Webster's opinion on the subject 
of slavery in the States of this Union, so far as expressed, 
is just the same as has been more than once avowed in 
every Anti-slavery paper in the country — that it is a subject 
within the exclusive control of the States themselves." — - 
Emancipator, 6th July, 1833. 

Not only has Mr. Garrison declared his readiness to 
sign his name to every sentiment expressed in Mr. Web- 
ster's letter, but he has used in the Liberator, the following 
language, "Abolitionists as clearly understand, and as 
sacredly regard the constitutional powers of Congress, as 
do their traducers ; and they know and have again and 
again asserted, that Congress has no more rightful authority 
to sit in judgment upon Southern slavery, than it has to 
legislate for the Abolition of slavery in the French colonies." 

We will now select a tew from the many official decla- 
rations of Abolitionists on this subject. 

" The national compact was so framed as to guarantee 
the legal possession of slaves ; and physical interference 
would be a violation of Christian principles." I Rep. of 
New-England Anti-slavery Society — p. 21. 

" We do not aim at any interference with the constitu- 



160 VINDICATION OF ABOLITIONISTS. 

tional rights of the slave holding States ; for Congress, as is 
well understood, has no power to abolish slavery in the 
several States." — Address of the New-York city Anti- 
Slavery Society — p. 5. 

" We freely and unanimously recognize the sovereignty 
of each State to legislate exclusively on the subject of 
slavery, which is tolerated within its limits ; we consider 
that Congress has no right to interfere with any of the slave 
States in relation to this subject." — Declaration of Anti- 
Slavery Convention at Philadelphia, 4th December, 1833. 

"While it admits that each State in which slavery 
exists, has by the Constitution of the United States exclusive 
right to legislate in regard to its Abolition, it shall aim to 
convince all our fellow citizens by arguments addressed to 
their understandings and consciences, that slave holding is 
a heinous sin in the sight of God." — Constitution of Ameri- 
can Anti-Slavery Society. 

In December 1833, the managers of the New- York 
City Anti-Slavery Society printed and circulated a petition 
to Congress, for the Abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia. It commenced as follows : 

To the Hon., the House of Representatives. 
" Your petitioners, inhabitants of the city of New- York, 
beg leave to represent to your Honorable body, that whatever 
views they may entertain of the evils of slavery as it ex- 
ists in certain States of the Federal Union, they are fully 
aware that these evils are beyond the Constitutional control 
of the federal government ; and so far from soliciting your 
interposition for their removal, they would deprecate the in- 
terference of Congress on this subject, as a violation of the 
national compact" The petition then proceeds to assert 
the Constitutional power of Congress to abolish slavery in 
the district, and asks for its exercise. 

And now we ask, is there any thing in the extracts we 
have given, to justify, excuse, or palliate the heavy accusa- 
tions made against Abolitionists 1 Surely it must now be 
conceded that however unconstitutional may be the eman- 
cipation contemplated by Abolitionists^it is not to be effected 
by Congress. We lament that Chancellor Walworth did 
not condescend to explain how and why it was unconstitu- 



VINDICATION OF ABOLITIONISTS. 161 

tional. He is accustomed to assign reasons for his decisions, 
and it may fairly be doubted, whether, in withholding the 
reasons for the judgment he has pronounced against Aboli- 
tionists, he has administered equity. He has adjudged 
that the emancipation contemplated by Abolitionists would 
"violate the rights of property," but in what way does not 
appear. As physical force is disclaimed, and congressional 
interference deprecated, the alleged violation of property 
must arise from the appeals made to the holders to surrender 
it. But surely the President of the New-York Temperance 
Society does not regard property in human flesh and blood 
so much more sacred than property in rum, that while he 
is laboring to induce the owners of the latter, throughout 
the United Stales, to part with their property, he looks upon 
every man who tells his fellow-citizens that it is their duty 
to manumit their slaves, as violating the rights of property ! 
The venders of ardent spirits in New-Orleans and else- 
where, have as valid and constitutional a title to their 
liquors as they have to their slaves. Now hear what Mr. 
Frelinghuysen says of a traffick expressly sanctioned by the 
laws of every State in the Union. " It is mere tampering 
with temptation to come short of positive, decided, and un- 
compromising opposition. We must not only resist, we 
must drive it. To stand on the defensive merely, is to aid 
in its triumph." 7th Rep. Am. Temp. Soc. p. 51. Yet 
they who by arguments, are resisting, or driving the traffick 
in the souls and bodies of men, are accused of "seeking to 
destroy our happy union !" 

The State Legislatures have as much right to authorise 
lotteries, as they have to authorise slavery, yet the Pennsyl- 
vania Society for abolishing lotteries, is established for the 
avowed purpose of abolishing, by moral influence, lotteries 
in other States, for there are none in its own. No objection 
is made to the constitutionality of that Society, yet epithets 
seem to be wanting to express the abhorrence felt for those 
who are aiming by the same means to rescue millions from 
a bondage destructive to their happiness in this world, and 
in that which is to come ! 

In the remarks we have made on the language used by 
Chancellor Walworth and his two associates, no unkind 
feelings have mingled. Not a suspicion of the goodness 



162 INFLUENCE AT THE NORTH. 

of their motives has crossed our mind ; we admire them 
for their talents, and esteem them for their virtues ; and sin- 
cerely do we regret, that men who possess the power of 
doing so much good, should ever, through want of infor- 
mation, so grievously misapply it. 

And now it may be asked, if Abolitionists intend to use 
only moral means, what good can they effect by using 
those means at the North, where slavery does not exist 1 
But although slavery does not exist at the North, it is ex- 
cused and justified at the North ; and Southern Christians 
are countenanced in keeping their fellow men in bondage 
and in ignorance, by their Northern brethren. We have 
already seen the baneful influence of the Colonization So- 
ciety on the treatment of the free negroes at the North : 
the Black Act of Connecticut is still in force, and Judge 
Dagget's decision remains unreversed. Slavery is in full 
vigor under the authority of Congress, and sanctioned by 
a majority consisting of Northern members; and our whole 
country is disgraced, and humanity and religion outraged 
by an extensive and abominable slave trade, conducted 
under the same sanction. If, therefore, it could be foreseen, 
that no slave in any of the States would ever be liberated, 
through the influence of Northern Anti-Slavery Soci- 
eties, there would still remain great and glorious objects to 
stimulate their zeal, to employ all their energies, and 
abundantly to reward all their labors. But neither their 
labors nor rewards will be confined to the North. The 
consciences of Southern Christians, so long lulled by the 
opiate of Colonization, are awakening to duty. Southern 
divines are beginning; to acknowledge the sinfulness of sla- 
very, and recent slave holders are now proclaiming the 
safety and duty of immediate emancipation. The whole 
nation has been roused from its lethargy, and in almost 
every circle and neighborhood, the subject of Abolition is 
attracting attention ; the violence and persecution experi- 
enced by Abolitionists, instead of suppressing, has pro- 
moted discussion ; and they have reason to hope, that 
slavery will ultimately be abolished, by the voluntary action 
of the South, in compliance with the dictates of policy an4 
of duty. 



EMANCIPATION DEFINED. 163 



CHAPTER VII 



Safety of immediate Emancipation. 

Although we may have succeeded in proving that 
the emancipation contemplated by Abolitionists, is not " un- 
constitutional," yet many may conscientiously doubt whether 
it would be safe and wise. 

A few years only have elapsed, since the use of ardent 
spirits was as universally countenanced by all classes of the 
community, as slavery now is ; and when the few who 
contended that their use was sinful, were deemed no less 
fanatical than those are now who hold the same doctrine 
in regard to slavery. 

The whole Colonization Society, with scarcely a solitary 
exception,* denounce immediate emancipation as dangerous, 
or rather as utterly ruinous, to the whites. Their objections 
were thus briefly summed up by the Rev. Dr. Hawks, in 
his speech at a Colonization meeting in New- York : 

"But if the plan of Colonization be abandoned, what 
remains ? Are the slaves fitted for freedom ? No — and if 
they are let loose at once, they must of necessity, to procure 
a living, either beg or steal, or destroy and displace the 
whites." N. York Com. Adv. 10th Oct. 1833. 

Here we have broad, unqualified assertions, without a 
particle of proof. We find it taken for granted, that if the 
slaves are at once restored to liberty, they must, from neces- 
sity, beg or steal, or destroy and displace the whites. 
What causes will produce this necessity, we are uninformed ; 
why it will be impossible for liberated slaves to work for 
wages, is unexplained. Slavery is property in human be- 
ings. Immediate emancipation is therefore nothing more than 
the immediate cessation of this property. But how does this 
cessation of property imply that those who were the subjects 
of it must be " let loose 1" Will they not, like other persons, 
be subject to the control of law, and responsible for their 
conduct? If incapable of providing for themselves, may 

* The only exception known to the writer, is G. Smith, Esq. 



164 WHAT EMANCIPATION IMPLIES. 

they not, like children, apprentices and paupers, be com- 
pelled to labor for their own maintenance? Immediate 
emancipation does not necessarily contemplate any relaxa- 
tion of the restraints of government or morality; any ad- 
mission to political rights, or improper exemption from 
compulsory labor. What then does such emancipation im- 
ply ? It implies, that black men, being no longer property, 
will be capable of entering into the marriage state, and of 
exercising the rights, and enjoying the blessings of the 
conjugal and parental relations, — it implies, that they will 
be entitled to the fruits of their honest industry — to the 
protection of the laws of the land, and to the privilege of 
securing a happy immortality, by learning and obeying the 
will of their Creator. 

Now, it is almost universally supposed, that such eman- 
cipation would, as a matter of course, lead to insurrection, 
robbery and massacre. Yet this opinion will, on exami- 
nation, be found utterly irreconcileable with the divine eco- 
nomy, the principles of human nature, and the testimony 
of experience. 

It is a trite remark, that nations are punished and 
rewarded in this world, and individuals in the next; and 
both sacred and profane history will be searched in vain for 
an instance, in which the Supreme Ruler has permitted a 
nation to suffer for doing justice and loving mercy. To 
believe that God would permit any community to be des- 
troyed, merely because it had ceased to do evil,, is to call 
in question the equity of his government, or the power of 
his providence. Who that acknowledges the truth of Reve- 
lation, can doubt, that if slavery be sinful, the sooner we 
part with it, the more confidently may we rely on the di- 
vine favor and protection. Infidelity alone will seek safety 
in human counsels, when opposed to the divine will. 

But the opinion we are considering, is no less at vari- 
ance with the motives and passions of our common nature, 
than with the dictates of Christian faith. 

What is the theory on which this opinion rests ? Why, 
that cruelty, injustice and grievous oppression, render men 
quiet, docile, and inoffensive subjects ; and that if deliver- 
ed from this cruelty, injustice, and oppression, they will rob 
and murder their deliverers ! 






INSTANCES OF EMANCIPATION. 165 

This theory is happily unsupported by any facts, and 
rests upon the simple dogma, that the slaves are not yet 
fitted for freedom. Now we would ask, what is meant by 
fitness for freedom ? Ought a man to be a slave, unless he 
can read, write and cipher? Must he be taught accounts, 
before he can receive wages ? Should he understand law, 
before he enjoys its protection ? Must he be instructed in 
morals, before he reads his Bible ? If all these are prere- 
quisites for freedom, how and when are they to be acquired 
in slavery ? 

If one century of bondage has not produced this 
fitness, how many will ? Are our slaves more fit now, 
than they were ten, twenty, fifty years ago? Let the his- 
tory of slave legislation answer the inquiry. When the 
British government insisted that female slaves should no 
longer be flogged naked in the colonies, the Jamaica legis- 
lature replied, that it would be impossible to lay aside the 
practice " until the negro women have acquired more of 
the sense of shame, which distinguishes European females." 
Slaves, while such, will become fit for freedom as soon, but 
not sooner, than negro women will become modest in con- 
sequence of the West-Indian mode of correction. No 
postponement of emancipation, will increase the fitness 
of slaves for freedom, and to wait for this fitness, resembles 
the conduct of the simpleton who loitered by the brook, 
expecting to pass dry shod, after the water had run off. 

The conclusion to which religion and common sense 
would lead us on this subject, is most abundantly confirmed 
by experience. Passing by the emancipation of the Serfs 
of Europe, let us advert to various instances of the 
sudden abolition of negro slavery, and let us see how far 
the theory we are considering is supported by facts. 

On the 10th October, 1811, the Congress of Chili, de- 
creed that every child born after that day, should be free. 

On the 9th April, 1812, the government of Buenos 
Ayres, ordered that every child born after 1st January, 
1813, should be free. 

On the 19th July, 1821, the Congress of Colombia 
passed an Act, emancipating all slaves, who had borne 
arms in favor of the Republic, and providing for the eman- 
15 



166 EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO. 

cipation in eighteen years, of the whole slave population 
of 280,000. 

On the 15th September, 1821, the government of Mex- 
ico granted instantaneous and unconditional emancipation 
to every slave. 

On the 4th July, 1827, ten thousand slaves were eman- 
cipated in the State of New- York by act of the legislature. 

In all these various instances, not one case of insurrec- 
tion or of bloodshed is known to have resulted from eman- 
cipation. But St. Domingo — ah, what recollections are 
awakened by that name ! With what name are associated 
the most irrefragable proofs of the safety and wisdom of 
immediate emancipation ; and of the ability of the African 
race, to value, defend, and enjoy the blessings of freedom. 
The apologists of slavery, are constantly reminding Aboli- 
tionists of the " scenes in St. Domingo." Were the pub- 
lic familiar with the origin and history of those scenes, 
none but Abolitionists would dare to refer to them. We 
will endeavor in the next chapter to dispel the ignorance, 
which so extensively prevails relative to the " scenes in St. 
Domingo," and we trust our efforts will furnish new con- 
firmation of the great truth, that the path of duty, is the 
path of safety. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Emancipation in St. Domingo and Guadaloupe, and present state of 
St. Domingo. 

In 1790, the population of the French part of St. 
Domingo was estimated at 686,000. Of this number, 
42,000 were white, 44,000 free people of color, and 600,000 
slaves. At the commencement of the French revolution, 
the free colored people petitioned the National Assembly, 
to be admitted to political rights, and sent a deputation to 
Paris to attend to their interests. On the 8th March, 1790, 
a law was passed, granting to the colonies the right of 



EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO. 167 

holding representative assemblies, and of exercising to a 
certain extent, legislative authority. On the 28th of the 
same month, another law was passed, declaring that " all 
free persons in the colonies, who were proprietors, and resi- 
dents of two years standing, and who contribute to the exi- 
gencies of the State, shall exercise the right of voting." 

The planters insisted that this law did not apply to free 
colored persons. They proceeded to elect a general assem- 
bly, and in this election the free blacks, were with but few 
exceptions, prevented from voting. The newly elected 
assembly issued a manifesto, declaring they would rather 
die, than divide their political rights with "-a bastard and 
degenerated race." A portion of the free colored people 
resolved to maintain the rights given them by the mother 
country, and assembled in arms under one of their own 
number named Oge. A letter addressed by this chief to 
the St. Domingo assembly, is fortunately extant, and 
explains the true origin of those awful calamities, which it 
is found expedient to ascribe to the Abolition of slavery. 
" Sirs, 
" A prejudice for a long time upheld, is at last about to 
fall. Charged with a commission honorable to myself, I 
call upon you to proclaim throughout the colony the decree 
of the National Assembly of the 28th March, which gives, 
without distinction, to every free citizen the right of being 
admitted to all duties and functions whatever. My preten- 
sions are just, and I do hope you will regard them. 1 
shall not have recourse to any raising of the slave gangs. 
It is unnecessary, and would be unworthy of me. I wish 
you to appreciate duly, the purity of my intentions. When 
I solicited of the National Assembly* the decree I obtained 
in favor of our American Colonists, known under the hith- 
erto injurious distinction of the mixed race, I never compre- 
hended in my claims the negroes in a state of slavery . You 
and our adversaries have mixed this with my proceedings 
to destroy my estimation in the minds of all well disposed 
people ■: but I have demanded only concessions for a class 
of free mew, who have endured the yoke of your oppression 
for two centuries. We have no wish but for the execution of 
the decree of the 28th March. We insist on its promulga- 
* Oge had been one of the deputies who were sent to Paris. 



168 EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO. 

tion ; and we cease not to repeat to our friends, that our 
adversaries are not merely unjust to us, but to themselves, 
for they do not seem to know that their interests are one 
with ours. Before employing the means at my command, 
I will see what good temper will do; but if contrary to my 
object, you refuse what is asked, I will not answer for 
those disorders which may arise from merited revenge." 

The shout of battle was the only answer returned to 
this letter. The free blacks were defeated, and their 
brave leader being taken prisoner, was, with a barbarity 
equalled only by its folly, broken alive on the wheel. 
A ferocious struggle now commenced between the two 
parties, and Oge's death was awfully avenged. On the 
15th May, 1791, the French Convention issued a decree, 
declaring explicitly, that " free colored persons were en- 
titled to all the rights of •itizenship." The planters how- 
ever, refused to submit, till after 2 000 whites, and 10,G00 
blacks had perished. The free blacks had armed their 
own slaves ; and many of the slaves belonging to the whites, 
taking advantage of the disturbed state of the island, 
revolted. The general assembly at length became alarmed, 
and on the 20th September, 1791, issued a proclamation 
announcing their acquiescence in the decree of the 15th 
May, admitting the free blacks to political equality with the 
whites. This proclamation immediately restored peace, 
and the free blacks even assisted the planters in reducing to 
obedience their revolted slaves. The peace, however, was 
of short duration. Intelligence was soon received that the 
French Convention had yielded to the clamors of the plant- 
ers, and on the 24th September, only four days after the 
Assembly's proclamation, had repealed the decree giving 
political rights to the free blacks. The irritation caused by 
this measure may easily be imagined, and the feelings of 
the free blacks were exasperated by an act of folly and pre- 
sumption of the Colonial Assembly. This body passed an 
order for disarming the whole free colored population. 
That population, however, instead of surrendering their 
arms, challenged their proud oppressors to take them, and 
immediately renewed the war. 

On the 4th April, 1792, the vacillating policy of tho 
French Government led it once more to pass a decree^ 



EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO. 169 

investing the free negroes in the Colonies with political 
rights; and three Commissioners, with 6,000 troops, were 
sent to St. Domingo to enforce the decree. The Commis- 
sioners arrived on the 13th September, and assumed the 
government of the island. In June, 1793, they quarrelled 
with the Governor, and each party took arms. The 
Commissioners called to their aid 3,000 revolted slaves, 
promising pardon for the past, and freedom for the future. 
About this time it was estimated that no less than 10,000 
of the white inhabitants had fled from the island, in conse- 
quence of its disturbed state, and this, be it remembered, 
before a single slave had been emancipated. The Com- 
missioners were successful in their contest with the Gover- 
nor, and retained the supreme power in their own hands. 
But a new danger threatened them. The planters were 
dissatisfied with the political rights conferred on the blacks, 
and were, in many instances, hostile to the Republic which 
had been reared on the ruins of the French Monarchy. 
They therefore, entered into intrigues with the British 
Government, inviting it to take possession of the Island, 
hoping that thus the old order of things would be restored. 
The Commissioners became acquainted with the intentions 
of the British to invade the island. Their only defensive 
force consisted of the 6,000 French troops and about 
15,000 militia. On the latter they were sensible but 
little reliance could be placed. Under these circumstances, 
they determined to emancipate the slaves, in order that the 
whole colored population might thus be induced to array 
itself under the Republican standard. Bryant Edwards, 
a well known English writer, and a most devoted apologist 
for slavery, in his history of this affair, after stating as a 
fact within his own knowledge, the overtures made by the 
St. Domingo planters to Great Britain, and that the Com- 
missioners could not muster more than 22,000 effective 
men, adds, " These being necessarily dispersed in detach- 
ments throughout the different provinces, became on that 
account, little formidable to an invading army. Aware 
of this circumstance, the Commissioners, on the first inti- 
mation of an attack from the English, resorted to the des- 
perate expedient of proclaiming all manner of slavery 
abolished." 

15* 



170 EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO. 

The proclamation was made in September, 1793, and on 
the 19th of the same month, the British armament, under 
Colonel White, arrived at Jeremie, and took possession of 
the town, and afterwards entered Port au Prince. Thus 
we find, that the abolition of slavery in St. Domingo was 
not, as is generally supposed, the result of an insurrection 
by the slaves, but an act of political expediency. Let us 
now see what were the consequences of this act. The 
whole colored population remained loyal to the Republi- 
can cause. The British were masters only of the soil 
covered by their troops, and at length, wearied out by the 
inveterate opposition they experienced, they abandoned all 
hopes of conquest, and in 1793 evacuated the island. In 
the mean time, the intercourse between the colony and the 
mother country became more and more interrupted. The 
seas were scoured by British cruisers, and the colonists 
were left by France to govern themselves. The whole 
colonial administration had been entirely subverted, the 
Commissioners had returned to France, and it became 
necessary to adopt some political system. Under these 
circumstances, Toussaint, a black, who had acquired power 
and influence, submitted, in 1801, to a general assembly, 
a republican constitution, which was adopted, and the 
Island was declared to be an independent State on the 1st 
July, 1801. But during all this time, what was the con- 
duct of the emancipated slaves? Before we answer this 
question, let us remind the reader that the emancipation 
was not only immediate but unpremeditated. No measures 
had been taken to Jit about (500,000 slaves for freedom, 
but suddenly, unexpectedly, almost in the twinkling of an 
eye, they ceased to be property, and were invested with the 
rights of human nature. And were the predictions of the 
Rev. Dr. Hawkes verified in St. Domingo? Did the 
manumitted slaves maintain themselves by begging and 
stealing, or did they destroy and displace the whites ? Let 
an eye witness answer the inquiry. Colonel Malefant, 
then a resident on the island, says in his " Memmre historique 
et politique des colonies et particulierment de celle de St. 
Dominique" p 58. . 

" After this public act of emancipation, the negroes 
remained quiet both in the south and in the west, and they 



EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO. 171 

continued to work upon all the plantations. There were 
estates indeed, which had neither owners nor managers 
resident upon them, for some of them had been put in 
prison by Montburn, and others fearing the same fate had 
fled to the quarter which had just been given up to the 
English, Yet, upon these estates, though abandoned, the 
negroes continued their labors, where there were any, even 
inferior agents to guide them ; and on those estates where 
no white men were left to direct them, they betook them- 
selves to planting of provisions : but upon all the planta- 
tions ichere the ivhites resided, the blacks continued to labor 
quietly as before." 

In another place (p. 125,) he says — 

" How did I succeed in the plain of the Cul de Sac, and 
on the plantation Gourard, more than eight months after 
liberty had been granted to the blacks? Let those who 
knew me at that time, and even the blacks themselves, be 
asked. They will reply that not a single negro upon that 
plantation, consisting of four hundred and fifty laborers, 
refused to work, and yet. this plantation was thought to be 
under the worst discipline, and the slaves the most idle of 
any in the plain. I myself inspired the same activity into 
three other plantations of which I had the management." 
He goes on to assert that " the colony was flourishing 
under Toussaint — the whites lived happily, and in peace 
upon their estates, and the negroes continued to icork for 
them" Toussaint came into power under the French 
authority, in 1796, and remained in power till 1802, or the 
commencement of the war with France. Thus it appears that 
the manumitted slaves continued quietly at work, from their 
emancipation in 1793, till 1802, a period of about eight years. 

This was not, let it be remembered, a season of peace. 
During most of the time a fierce war was waged against 
the English invaders. In this war a portion of the planters 
took part with the enemy, and experienced at the hands of 
the blacks, those cruelties which so often distinguish a civil 
war. But on a careful and scrupulous examination of the 
history of this period, we cannot find, that from the date of 
the emancipation in 1793, to the French invasion in 1802, 
a single white man was injured by the liberated slaves, 
unless he had previously placed himself in the attitude of a 



172 EMANCIPATION IN ST. DOMINGO. 

political enemy by siding with the British. Immediately 
on the evacuation of the island by the British, profound 
tranquillity prevailed and the planters who remained, and the 
emigrants who returned enjoyed their estates without moles- 
tation. 

Malefant is not the only witness we can cite to these 
facts. General Lacroix, who published his " Memoirs for 
a history of St. Domingo," at Paris, in 1819, speaking of 
the colony in 1797, says, " It marched as by enchantment, 
towards its ancient splendor : cultivation prospered ; every 
day produced perceptible proofs of its progress. The City 
of the Cape, and the plantations of the North, rose up again 
visibly to the eye." p. 311. 

The author of " the History of St. Domingo," printed in 
London, IS18, speaking of Toussaint, says: 

" When he restored many of the planters to their estates, 
there was no restoration of their former property in human 
beings. No human being was to be bought or sold. Se- 
vere tasks, flagellations, and scanty food, were no longer to 
be endured. The planters were obliged to employ their 
laborers on the footing of hired servants ; and the negroes 
were required to labor for their own livelihood. The 
amount of remuneration was not left to individual genero- 
sity or private agreement, but it was fixed by law, that the 
cultivators should have lor their wages a third part of the 
crops. While this ample encouragement was afforded for 
the excitement of industry, penalties were at the same 
time denounced for the punishment of idleness. 

" The effect of these regulations were visible throughout 
the country. Obliged to work, but in a moderate manner, 
and for handsome wages, and at liberty for the most part to 
choose their own masters, the plantation negroes were in 
general contented, healthy and happy."* 

And now let Abolitionists be reminded of the " scenes 
in St. Domingo ;" yes, let those scenes be constantly kept 
before the public as an awful and affecting memento of the 
justice due to the free blacks, and as a glorious demonstra- 

* These representations are confirmed by the fact, that the exports 
from St. Domingo in 1801, seven years after emancipation, were, of 
sugar, 18,535,132 lbs. ; coffee, 43,420,270 lbs. ; cotton, 2.480,340 lbs. 
Me Culloctis Diet, of Commerce, p. 926. 



EMANCIPATION IN GUADALOUPE. 173 

tion of the perfect safety of immediate and unconditional 
emancipation. 

Yet men who believe it safe to do immediate justice, 
and who find from history that God never permits a nation 
to suffer for obeying his commands, are held up to the deri- 
sion and detestation of the community as fanatics and 
incendiaries. Let us see what new proofs of their fanati- 
cism are afforded by the history of the abolition of slavery 
in Guadaloupe. 

On the 20th April, 1794, a British armament, under 
Sir Charles Grey, took the French island of Guadaloupe, 
many of the planters, as in St. Domingo, being royalists and 
favoring the cause of the invaders. 

On the 5th June, following, a French force, under 
Victor Hugo, arrived to dispute the possession of the 
island. The Republican general immediately proclaimed 
the freedom of the slaves, in pursuance of a decree of the 
National Assembly of the preceding February ; and arming 
the negroes, led them against the enemy. The English 
were soon confined within narrow quarters, and by the 10th 
December, were compelled to evacuate the island. From 
this time, Guadaloupe remained a dependance of France 
till 1810, when it was retaken by the English. 

On the abolition of slavery, la police rurale, was substitu- 
ted for it. The slaves were converted into free laborers, and 
were entitled to their food, and one fourth of the produce 
of their labor. They were 85,000 in number, and the 
whites only 13,000. So far was the cultivation of the 
island from being suspended by emancipation, that in 1801, 
an official report stated the plantations as follows, viz. : of 
sugar, 390 ; of coffee, 1355 ; of cotton, 328 ; and 25 grass 
farms. The peace of Amiens unhappily afforded Bonaparte 
an opportunity to re-establish slavery in Guadaloupe. In 
the summer of 1802, Ilichepanse landed on the island at 
the head of a powerful French force, and in a short time 
by the indiscriminate massacre of all who opposed his pur- 
pose, fulfilled the object of his mission at the sacrifice, it is 
said, of nearly 20,000 negro lives. 

Immediately preceding this atrocious act, all was peace 
and prosperity ; and so late as February, 1802, the supreme 
council of Gaudaloupe, in an official document, alluding to 



174 



PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO. 



the tranquillity which reigned throughout the island, ob- 
served : " We shall have the satisfaction of having given an 
example, which will prove that all classes of people may 
live in perfect harmony with each other, under an adminis- 
tration which secures justice to all classes." 

In Gaudaloupe, we see an instance of a great prepon- 
derating slave population suddenly emancipated, and yet 
peaceably pursuing their labors for seven years, and living 
in harmony with the white proprietors. 

If we are to believe Colonizationists, the negro charac- 
ter is to be exhibited in all its perfection in Liberia , but in 
America, the black man can never rise from his present 
degradation. Do we inquire the reason, we are promptly 
told, that no equality can subsist between the white and 
black races, and that the latter to be great and happy must 
live alone. Strange it is, that instead of referring to St. 
Domingo as an apt illustration of their theory, they are fond 
of citing the present state of that island as a warning 
against Abolition — as a proof that free negroes are too indo- 
lent to work, too deficient in enterprise, to attain national 
prosperity. If such be the fact, how faithless must be 
their predictions of the future glory of Liberia. Let us 
now attend to the gloomy and disheartening account, which 
the chairman of the executive committee of the New-York 
Colonization Society gives us of St. Domingo; an account 
which, if true, ought to induce the Society to abandon 
their enterprise. 

" More than thirty years have elapsed since slavery was 
abolished in St. Domingo. Through scenes of unparalleled 
devastation and blood, the blacks expelled their white mas- 
ters, and have ever since lived under a government of their 
own. But from the day of their emancipation to the 
present, the population for the most part, has been idle and 
worthless. 

" St. Domingo was the garden of the new«world — the 
richest of the Indies. But its villas have gone to ruin, and 
its fields run to waste. Thorns and briars have choked 
their gardens, and the plantations have been barren from 
idleness, The government has ever been despotic, and of 
necessity ; and at last its power has been called forth 
for the regulation of labor — the labor of freemen, to prevent 



PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO. 175 

the island from going entirely to ruin. The following 
extract from a late Haytian enactment is in point, and will 
serve as a practical commentary upon the mad schemes of 
our well meaning but deluded philanthropists. We have ex- 
tracted the following articles which render the condition of 
the free blacks very little different from, if not actually 
worse than the condition of the slaves in any part of the 
United States."* Com. Advertiser, 24th September, 1834. 
Then follow extracts from the rural code of Hayti, from 
which it appears, that all persons without land or occupa- 
tion are compelled to labor, and are liable to imprisonment 
for idleness. 

It is remarkable that the philanthropists, on whose mad 
schemes this code is supposed to be a commentary, are 
admitted on the 24th September, to be " well meaning," 
whereas, on the 9th June preceding, we were assured by 
this same gentleman, that the " design" of these philanthro- 
pists was " to foment a servile war in the South." To 
convince us how unfit negroes are for freedom, we are here 
informed that thirty years after slavery was abolished in St. 
Domingo, the government has at last exerted its power for 
the regulation of labor, to prevent the island from going 
entirely to ruin. It so happens, that the regulation of labor, 
instead of being an expedient resorted to at last to save 
the island from ruin, was coeval with the Act of emancipa- 
tion. On the 28th February, 1794, Etienne Polverel, 

* This last assertion is so very extraordinary, that we are constrain- 
ed to believe Mr. Stone has never read the " enactment" from which he 
quotes. The present rural code of Hayti was adopted in 1826. It is a 
document filling about fifteen folio pages, and displays a strong desire 
to secure justice to the laborers. By this code, all " who shall not be 
able to show that they possess the means of subsistence, shall be bound 
to cultivate the earth." Such persons are required to hire themselves 
as farm laborers, but they are at perfect liberty to select their employer. 
The parties enter into written contracts for not less than three, nor 
more than nine years. The compensation to the laborers on a farm, 
varies according to the terms of the contract from one-fourth to one- 
half of the whole produce of the farm. All disputes between the em- 
ployer and his people are settled by a justice of the peace. The employer 
can no more flog or otherwise punish his " cultivators," than an Ameri- 
can farmer can his hired laborers. Not even for crimes is corporal pun- 
ishment allowed in Hayti. The cultivator has by law, the whole of 
Saturday and Sunday to himself, and on other days, he cannot be re- 
quired to work after sunset. There is nothing to prevent him from ac- 
cumulating property by industry and economy, buying a farm and 
hiring laborers in his turn. 



176 PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO. 

" civil commissary of the Republic, delegated to the French 
Leeward islands in America, for the purpose of re-establish- 
ing the public order and tranquillity," published in the 
name of the French people a rural code for the Government 
of the liberated slaves in St. Domingo. It is long, and 
descends to minute particulars — a brief extract will show 
that it regulated labor. 

" The ordinary day's labor is limited to about nine hours, 
viz: from sunrise to half-past eight — from half-past nine 
to twelve — and from two to sunset, and in crop time it 
shall be extended to eight o'clock in the evening — The 
laborers shall be bound to obey the overseers, and the over- 
seers to obey each other according to their rank ; but their 
authority shall be confined to the cultivation and good or- 
der of the plantation. Those laborers, who in these points 
shall refuse to obey the order of the overseers, shall be sub- 
ject to a month's imprisonment, icith labor during the day 
on 'public works* 3 &-C, &,c. This code continued in force 
till August, 1798, when it was somewhat modified by Tous- 
saint, and we have already seen on the authority of the 
history of St. Domingo, that " the planters were obliged to 
employ their laborers on the footing of hired servents. and 
the negroes were required to labor for their livelihood." 
Hence it appearsthat the regulation of labor in St. Domingo, 
is not as Mr. Stone seems to suppose a recent exertion of 
power on the part of the government. 

But what shall we say of the ruined villas; the barren 
plantations, the gardens choked with thorns ? Admitting 
Mr. Stone's melancholy picture to be correct, cannot we 
explain it, on other principles than such as would be fatal 
to the freedom and happiness of millions ? The zealous 
editor seems wholly to have forgotten the terrible war 
which the Haytians were compelled to wage in defence of 
their liberty. In 1802, a French army landed in St. Do- 
mingo, for the purpose of again reducing its inhabitants to 
slavery, and a war ensued, which, for its desolating fury, 
is probably without a parallel. An historian of this war, 
thus concludes his account of it : 

" At length, in the month of December, 1803, the island 
was finally abandoned, a mere handful of the French troops 
escaping the destruction which had already overtaken 



PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO. 177 

00,000 of their fellows ! Thus for nearly two years, with 
a very brief interval, had a war raged in St. Domingo, singu- 
larly ferocious and vindictive in its character, and directed 
latterly more to extermination than to conquest, sparing 
neither sex nor age, and sweeping away from the whole 
face of the plains of that beautiful island every trace of cul- 
tivation. So complete was the extinction of all sugar cul- 
ture in particular, that for a time not an ounce of that arti- 
cle was procurable. The very roots and fruits on which 
subsistence depended, were cultivated only in mornes. 
Desolation, therefore, could hardly be conceived more com- 
plete, than prevailed in 1804 and 1805 over all those parts 
of the colony, ivhich had formerly been covered with planta- 
tions ; and it is well known how soon the rank vegetation 
of a tropical climate converts the neglected plantation into 
jungle." 

And is it a proof that slaves ought never to be emanci- 
pated, that St. Domingo has not in thirty years, after such 
wide spread desolation, become again in the hands of men 
recently delivered from bondage, and for the most part, 
poor and ignorant, "the garden of the new world V And 
was, indeed, that an " idle and worthless" population, 
which successfully resisted the arms of England and of 
France, and achieved their freedom by an heroic sacrifice 
of their lives and property — a sacrifice, which, had their 
complexion been white, would have been celebrated by 
poets and orators in every portion of the civilized world ? 

Let us now inquire, whether the present state of the 
island is in truth such as is alleged., 

The Rev. Simon Clough, D. D., L. L. D., has lately 
published a pamphlet, (" Appeal to the Citizens of the 
United States") in which he undertakes to justify slavery 
from the Scriptures, and to prove that all clergymen who 
advocate immediate abolition, are " false teachers," and 
ought to be dismissed by their congregations. Now this 
most veracious teacher, speaking of St. Domingo, assures 
us, (p. 16 :) " At the present time,* there is not one sugar, 
coffee, or cotton plantation on the island. There is now 
exported about five million pounds of inferior coffee, which 

* The pamphlet was published in New-York, 1834. 
16 



178 PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO. 

grows wild, and is picked up by the inhabitants off the 
ground, where it falls after it becomes ripe." 

Strange it is, that this island, if in the state described 
by Messrs. Stone and Clough, should support a population of 
935,000.* Still more strange is jt, that when the whole ex- 
port of coffee is only about five million pounds, it should 
appear from the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
that the coffee exported in 1833, from Hayti to the United 
States alone, amounted to eleven million, seven hundred 
eighty-four thousand, eight hundred and thirty-five pounds. 
Most passing strange is it, that the imports into this coun- 
try, in the same year, from an island in which there is not 
ONE sugar, coffee, or cotton plantation ; with an idle and 
worthless population ; with its fields run to waste, and its 
plantations barren from idleness, should nevertheless ex- 
ceed in value our imports in the same period, from either 
Prussia — Sweden and Norway — Denmark, and the Danish 
West-Indies — Ireland and Scotland — Holland — Belgium 
— Dutch East-Indies — British West-Indies — Spain — Portu- 
gal — all Italy — Turkey and the Levant — or any one re- 
public in South America It 

Neither Mr. Stone nor Dr. Clough, profess to speak 
from personal observation. Let us then listen to an eye 
witness. In 1831, was published in a London periodical, 
the journal of a traveller in Hayti. The following are ex- 
tracts : 

"Port au Prince, Island of Hayti, June 25, 1830. 

"Being aware, that this city had very recently suffered 
greatly by fire, I expected to see an unsightly waste of ruin 
and decay ; but the lots are rebuilt, and many a splendid 
and substantial edifice, surpassing those to be seen in the 
city of Kingston in Jamaica, has arisen as the first fruits 
of the security which property enjoys, by the recognized 
independence of Hayti. 

" I have made an excursion or two, just out of the 
town, to the little cottage settlements, on the side of the 
mountain above the city. I am told, that in the ancient 
Regime — that is the phrase here for the old state of things, 

* Census of 1824. 
t See documents accompanying Letter from'Secretary of the Trea- 
sury to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 21st April, 1834. 



PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO. 179 

the plains were a source of so abundant a return for the 
industry of the proprietor, that the mountains in this neigh- 
borhood were comparatively neglected, so that the ' Camp 
des Fourmis,' the range of hills so called, extending from 
Point Lamentin to the Cul de Sac, were heretofore never 
cultivated as they are now. At present, they are covered 
with a thousand small settlements appropriated to coffee, 
and provisions, and fruits, and vegetables, in which the ad- 
vantages of irrigation, presented by the frequent springs, 
bursting from the mountain ravines, have been diligently 
attended to, in the agricultural economy. The water is 
trenched over the sunny surface of each projecting irregu- 
larity of the ridge ; and height above height, the cottage 
of the humble cultivator is seen ; or the substantial coun- 
try-seat of the Haytian merchant, with its baths, bowers, 
and terraced gardens have been erected. 

" Port au Prince, though by no means a handsome 
town, is, at this day, in style, and one may say splendor, 
far superior to what it was in the colonial period of its his- 
tory. 

" The frequent calamities, to which it has been sub- 
jected from fire, and the immense and valuable property 
lost by earthquakes, in the years 1820 and 1S22, have led the 
Haytians to attempt providing against the two-fold liability, 
as they expressed it, of bein^ bouleverse et incendie. They 
have commenced re-erecting some of the houses destroyed 
by these conflagrations, with stonp «* kii*k, cased over 
wooden frames, at once to sustain the shock of the earth- 
quake, and to repel the action of the fire. They cover the 
roofs with tiles, or slates, rather than shingles ; and erect 
their stores for merchandize with fire-proof terraces, and 
wrought iron doors and windows. These buildings have 
galleries and arched colonnades, with heavy cornices and 
balustrades screening the roof; and floors of variegated 
marble, and tiles in the upper as well as lower stories. If 
continued generally, they will render this city not only one 
of the most elegant in the West-Indies, but one in which 
the houses will exhibit an interior economy, the very best 
adapted to the necessities of the climate. The decorations 
are appropriate. The rich, varied mahogany of the coun- 
try is manufactured into elegant. furniture by the artizans 



180 PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO. 

here ; and the French taste of gilded mirrors, Or Molu 
clocks, and porcelain vases, filled with artificial flowers, 
impart to the dwellings of the simple Haytians an air of re- 
finement not unworthy of Europe. 

" The scene presented to the view of the traveller, who 
quits the city of Port au Prince, to journey on the highway 
to the mountains, though a wild waste, is not a solitary one. 
On the road he will meet a multitude of cultivators coming 
to the city market, with horses and asses loaded with pro- 
visions. He will see wagons with produce, drawn by 
hardy and healthy cattle. If he departs from the high- 
road, and turns to the right hand, through one of the wood- 
land paths, he will find himself entering into open grounds, 
covered with verdant fields; he will see traces every 
where visible of renewech cultivation ; mansions re-erected ; 
aqueducts reconducting their streams to irrigate the land ; 
the' sound of water-mills at work ; cottages no longer de- 
serted, but tenanted by laborers once more issuing from 
them, to gather in the harvest of the teeming soil. 

"The island of Jamaica does not exhibit a plantation 
better established than Chateau Blond ; whether we con- 
sider the resources of the land, or the mechanical economy 
by which those resources are commanded, it is a splendid 
establishment. 

" To me, who have had an opportunity from the day of 
my birth, and long residence in a slave colony, of forming 
by comparison a oorrect estimate of this peoples advance-, 
ment, the general quiet conduct and respectful behavior of 
all classes here, publicly and privately, is a matter exciting 
great surprise." 

All this, it may be said, is anonymous testimony. It is so, 
and yet it seems entitled to at least as much weight, as the 
bare, naked assertions of Messrs. Stone and dough. We 
will now offer testimony, to which we presume no objection 
will be made. The following are extracts from " the 
report of the select committee on the extinction of slavery 
throughout the British Dominions, with minutes of evi- 
dence, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed^ 
11th August, 1832." 

Evidence of Mr. Robert Sutherland. 

u Are there many persons who work for hire in Haytil 



PRESENT STATE OP ST. DOMINGO. 181 

Yes — the whole cultivation is carried on by free labor. Do 
these persons work with industry and vigor? 

" I have no reason to think they do not. The proof, 
that free labor in Hayti answers, is this, that after the 
French were expelled, there was absolutely no sugar work 
— there was no mill — there was nothing of that kind which 
could be put in use : it was destroyed ; and since that pe- 
riod, various plantations have grown up in Hayti. Men 
have gone to the expense of thirty and forty thousand dol- 
lars, to build up those sugar works ; and it stands to rea- 
son, that unless these men were repaid for their capital, 
they would not continue that sort of work. And there is 
another thing to be observed — that sugar is not the staple 
commodity of Hayti ; they only make sufficient for their 
own consumption. Coffee is the staple commodity of the 
island. 

" If a man can show, that he has the means of sub- 
sistence of his own, is he compelled to labor under the 
code rurale 1 

" Decidedly not. 

" Do you believe that corporeal punishment is inflicted 
upon any of the laborers in Hayti ? 

" I believe it is impossible. I have seen the peasantry 
in the Highlands of Scotland where I was brought up, and 
I declare that the negroes in St. Domingo are comparatively 
as much superior to them in comfort, as it is possible for 
one man to be over another." 

Evidence of Vice Admiral, the Hon. Charles Fleming, 
member of Parliament : 

" Was told that vagrants and deserters worked by com- 
pulsion, but he did not see any himself. Had never heard of 
any working under the lash. The lash was prohibited by law. 
The Haytians appeared to him the happiest, best fed, and 
most comfortable negroes he had ever seen : better off even 
than in the Caraccas : infinitely better than in Jamaica; 
there was no comparison between them. He could not speak 
positively of the increase of the Haytian population since 
1804, but believed it had trebled since that time. They now 
feed themselves, and they export provisions, which neither 
the French nor the Spaniards had ever done before. 
16* 



182 PRESENT STATE OF ST. DOMINGO, 

" He saw a sugar estate near Cape Haytian, General 
Boulon's, extremely well cultivated, and in beautiful order. 
It was wrought by blacks, all free. A new plantation was 
forming on the opposite side of the road. Their victuals 
were very superior to those in Jamaica, consisting chiefly 
of meat ; cattle being very cheap. The highest contract 
beef in Hayti, was 2d, in Jamaica it was 12d. He saio 
no marks of destitution any where. The country seemed 
improving, and trade increasing. The estate he visited 
near the Cape was large ; it was calculated to make 300 
hogsheads of sugar. It was beautifully laid out, and as 
well managed as any estate he had seen in the West Indies. 
His official correspondence as Admiral with the Haytian 
government, made him attribute much efficiency to it, and 
it bore strong marks of civilization. There was a better 
police in Hayti, than in the new South American States ; 
the communication was more rapid ; the roads much better. 
One had been cut from Port au Prince to Cape Haytian, 
that would do honor to any country. A regular post was 
established. The government is one quite worthy of a 
civilized people. The negroes of Hayti, are certainly 
richer, and happier, and in a better condition than he had 
ever seen elsewhere. They were all working in the fields 
when he was there. He rode about very much. He did 
not think any acts of oppression were practised on the peo- 
ple of Hayti by the government." 

Mr. Jeremie, late first president of the royal court of St, 
Lucia, informs us, that in St. Domingo, " is found a happy, 
flourishing, and contented peasantry, engaged in the culti- 
vation of their own small freeholds ; and as these persons 
acquire capital, they form larger establishments, and are 
gradually rising. This proves, that the general wants of 
the community are supplied, and, if well governed, that 
community must soon acquire strength, and rise to impor- 
tance." Essays on Colonial Slavery, 1832. p. 63. 

The following facts, collected from the new and valua- 
ble " Dictionary of Commerce and Commercial Naviga- 
tion," by J. R. McCulloch, London edition, 1834, abun- 
dantly confirm the foregoing testimonies. 

In 1786, the exportation of coffee was about 35,000 



PRESENT STATE OP ST. DOMINGO. 183 

tons. In consequence of the subsequent devastation of the 
island, the exportation for some years almost totally ceased ; 
but it has now risen to about 20,000 tons ! p. 309. 

The amount of the following articles, exported in 1832, 
was estimated as follows, viz : 

Coffee, 50,000,000 lbs. 

Cotton, 1,500,000 lbs. 

Tobacco, 500,000 lbs. 

Cocoa, 500,000 lbs. 

Dye wood, 5,000,000 lbs. 

Tortoise shell, 12,000 lbs. 

Mahogany, 6,000,000 feet 

Hides, 80,000— p. 927 

The quantity of sugar exported in 1832, is not stated ; 
but in 1826, it amounted to 32,864 lbs. ; and it should be 
recollected, that about twenty years before, not an ounce of 
that article was manufactured on the island, p. 926. 

The imports into France, in 1831, from Hayti, exceeded 
in value the imports from Sweden — Denmark, the Hanse- 
atic Towns — Holland — Portugal — Austria — the French 
East-Indies — or China, p. 637. 

In the same year, the importation of French wines 
into Hayti amounted to 108,395 gallons, p. 1250.* 

Cotton manufactures, to the amount of 6,828,576 yards, 
were exported from Great Britain to Hayti in 1831, being 
about one-tenth the number of yards exported in the same 
time to the United States, p. 446. 

Our readers are now competent to judge for themselves 
how far the assertions of Mr. Stone and the Rev. Dr. 
Clough, are consistent with truth ; and also, what is "the 
practical commentary" offered by the history and present 
state of St. Domingo, on " the mad schemes of our well- 
meaning but deluded philanthropists." 

* The quantity of French wine imported the same year into Great 
Britain for home consumption, was 254,366 gallons, p. "1255. .. .,*. 



184 EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Emancipation in the British West Indies. 

The British Government, in part to conciliate the West 
India proprietors, and in part through apprehension of the 
danger of immediate emancipation, determined to abolish 
slavery in such a manner as to Jit the slave for freedom. 
Instead of breaking his yoke, it was to be reduced in 
weight ; and six years were to be occupied in filing off his 
manacles. On the first of last August, the slave was told 
and believed, that slavery was abolished ; but on the mor- 
row he was summoned to his usual task, and required to 
work as before, without reward. Astonished and disap- 
pointed, he doubted the legality of the mandate, and hesi- 
tated to obey it. He was then informed, that, although no 
longer a slave, he was nevertheless an apprentice, and must 
toil on for six years longer, before he could enjoy the fruit of 
his labor. Had emancipation been nominally, as well as 
really, prospective, the slave would have regarded it as a 
boon; but he did not readily comprehend the distinction 
between slavery and apprenticeship. 

There was, however, a very important distinction, which 
he soon discovered, and which did not promote his acqui- 
escence in protracted wrong. The lash was, by act of 
Parliament, wrested from the master's hand ; and while he 
was authorized to command his apprentices to labor, he 
was forbidden to punish them for idleness or insubordina- 
tion. On this subject a Jamaica paper remarks : " It is 
clear, and there is no use in disguising the fact, that the 
apprentices can no longer be coerced in the way they for- 
merly were ; for in the first place, no magistrate can legally 
inflict more than twenty-nine stripes . and, in the next, it 
is not possible to furnish magistrates enough for the pur- 
pose. The hope, therefore, of coercing, is absurd, and 
must be abandoned." 

The conduct of the West India negroes, under these 
circumstances, proves how utterly groundless are the ap- 



EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. 185 

prehensions entertained of emancipation. Disappointed 
and irritated, and at the same time almost wholly released 
from the control of their masters, they have exhibited a 
meekness, patience, and forbearance, utterly without a par- 
allel. The great mass of the apprentices continue to labor, 
but some have either refused to work, or accomplish less 
than their appointed tasks. None of the insurrections, 
murders and conflagrations, which were so confidently pre- 
dicted by the enemies of abolition, have occurred. Not one 
life has yet been taken, not one dwelling fired,* throughout 
the British West Indies, by the emancipated slaves. 

This forbearance is the more remarkable, when we 
consider the numerical superiority of the negroes, in the 
West Indies, and particularly in Jamaica, where there are 
331,000 slaves, and only 37,000 whites. 

Whatever may be the result of the apprenticeship ex- 
periment, Abolitionists are not responsible for it. It was 
adopted contrary to their advice, and is inconsistent with 
the doctrines they profess. The emancipation which they 
believe to be most consonant with the will of God, most 
conducive to the safety and happiness of the whites, is im- 
mediate and unconditional. They rejoice that their doc- 
trines are at this moment subjected to a severe and practi- 
cal test, and they await the issue with unshaken confidence. 

The Legislatures of Bermuda and Antigua, have adopt- 
ed the &ame course which the American Anti-Slavery So- 
ciety recommends u, the slave States. With the permis- 
sion of the British government, tlitse Legislatures dispensed 
with the apprenticeship altogether, and on the first of last 
August, granted immediate and unqualified emancipation. 
That we may judge of the fanaticism, the madness, the 
reckless incendiarism of these Legislatures, we must take 
into consideration the number of slaves they "let loose 
upon the community/' and their relative proportion to the 
white population. 

In Bermuda there are 5,500 whites, 4,650 slaves, and 
500 free blacks. In Antigua, 2,000 whites, 30,000 slaves, 
and 4,500 free blacks.f 

*Twq sheds, called trash houses, were lately burned in Jamaica, pro- 
bably, but not certainly, by an apprentice. 

t American Almanac. 



186 EMANCIPATION IN BERMUDA. 

The Bermuda Gazette, of the 4th August, thus speaks 
of the great change effected on the 1st: 

" The day was as remarkable for quietude, exemption 
from labor, and solemnity, as that which makes the Sab- 
bath in a Christian land. The only bustle perceptible, was 
in preparation for attending public worship, which his Ex- 
cellency, the Governor, most wisely ordered to be perform- 
ed : thereby dedicating it wholly to God, the wilier and 
doer of this great work. The churches, and other places 
of public worship on the island, were crowded to excess, 
every possible accommodation being afforded to the colored 
people. From every quarter we hear of their orderly, nay 
more, exemplary behavior. Four days of universal free- 
dom have now passed, and four days of more perfect regu- 
larity and quiet have these famed peaceful islands never 
witnessed." 

Such was the immediate result of turning loose 4,000 
slaves. Let us now attend to subsequent testimony. The 
Hon. Mr. Butterfield, Chief Justice of Bermuda, in his 
charge to the grand jury on the 6th November, referring to 
the abolition of slavery in the island, observed : 

" This measure, which was necessarily one of fearful 
experiment, has not, I am happy to say, disappointed the 
hopes of the public, whose feelings in its favor were ex- 
pressed with an unanimity as unexampled as, I am proud 
to say, altogether honorable to the character «f the coun- 
try. On the contrary, it is a subject of congratulation, and 
certainly of commendation *^ itie emancipated, that in 
three months during which we have been able to mark its 
working, the general character and comfort of society has 
improved, and that the evils which some of its best friends 
apprehended, were in all cases overrated, and in some have 
hitherto had no existence." 

But in Bermuda the whites were equal to the blacks, 
and the manumitted slaves were perhaps restrained from 
outrage, by the consciousness of their own weakness. It 
seems as if Providence had provided facts to refute every 
argument that can be urged against abolition. Let us now 
turn to Antigua, where the slaves were to the whites as 15 
to 1, and the free blacks as 3 to 2, and see how far in this 
overwhelming preponderance of the colored over the white 



EMANCIPATION IN ANTIGUA. 187 

population, immediate emancipation confirmed Dr. Hawks's 
theory ? Let the Antigua newspaper of 7th August, an- 
swer the inquiry. 

" The great doubt is solved — the alarming prognostica- 
tions of the advocates of slavery falsified — the highest 
hopes of the negroes' friends fulfilled, and their pledge 
honorably redeemed. A whole people, comprising thirty 
thousand souls, have passed from slavery into freedom, 
not only without the slightest irregularity, but with the 
solemn and decorous tranquillity of a Sabbath. A week 
has nearly elapsed, and although all eyes and ears are 
open, and reports spread rapidly, we have not heard of a 
single act of insolence, insubordination or violence com- 
mitted by any one of them, under false and licentious 
notions of freedom." 

From the same paper, of the 14th August: " It is with 
the highest satisfaction we announce, that we know of, and 
believe that there is no gang of laborers in the island, which 
has not returned to its accustomed employment" 

So that two weeks after the slaves were " let loose," 
instead of begging and stealing, they were all quietly at 
work. 

We quote from the same paper of the 21st August : 
"The third week of freedom will close with this day, 
and again we are bound to express our gratitude and 
praise to the Divine goodness, for the perfect peace and tran- 
quillity, which the island enjoys. Not the least symptom 
of insubordination has manifested itself any where ; and 
the daily accounts from all quarters testify to the excellent 
disposition and conduct of the new freemen." 

In a letter from Antigua, dated 30th August, and 
published in a Norfolk paper, we find the following : 

" The operations of commerce have experienced no in- 
terruption ; public confidence remains unshaken. Two 
sugar plantations have recently leased for as much as they 
were worth, xoith the negroes included, prior to emancipa- 
tion." 

While the Jamaica papers are filled with complaints of 
the conduct of the apprentices, and predictions of the ruin of 
the island, one of them (10th September) says : " In Anti- 
gua, all appears to be peaceable and quiet. Its rulers 



183 EMANCIPATION IN ANTIGUA. 

evinced more wisdom, and proved themselves to be better 
tacticians, than those of any other colonies, Bermuda ex- 
cepted. In getting rid of the apprenticeship, they got rid 
of the source, and only source of heart-burning between 
them and their laborers ; and we maintain, as a.frce colony, 
will soon experience advantages not to be enjoyed by others, 
so long at least as the humbug continues." 

About seven months have now elapsed, since the thirty 
thousand slaves of Antigua were suddenly "let loose,''' and, 
as yet, we have not heard of a single outrage committed by 
them. It had been customary in this island, as an addi- 
tional security against insurrection, to proclaim martial law 
at the Christmas holy-days, during which time the slaves had 
peculiar opportunities for forming conspiracies. The great 
act of justice accomplished on the first of August, relieved 
the planters of all apprehension of insurrection ; and not 
only was the usual proclamation withheld at the last 
Christmas, but the militia was exempted from duty. In a 
late speech, by the Speaker of the Antigua House of As- 
sembly, he adverted to the " universal tranquillity," that 
prevailed, and to the " respectful demeanor of the lower clas- 
ses;" and declared, that " the agricultural and commercial 
prosperity of the colony was absolutely on the advance." 



CHAPTER X. 

Gradual and immediate Emancipation. 

If we have been successful in our endeavors to prove, 
that the removal of slavery by colonization is both morally 
and physically impossible, then it necessarily follows, that 
the slaves must be emancipated here, or that slavery must 
be indefinitely continued. 

Should the former alternative be adopted, the important 
question occurs : ought the emancipation to be gradual or 
immediate ? 

If this question is to be determined with reference to 



GRADUAL EMANCIPATION. 189 

moral obligation, it is certainly difficult for those who re- 
gard slavery as sinful to justify its continuance even for a 
limited time. If, however, the question is to be decided 
on the ground of mere political expediency, there are 
many and powerful objections to gradual emancipation. 
These objections, it is true, have more or less weight, ac- 
cording to circumstances, and what may at first view, 
seem paradoxical, their weight is proportioned to the num- 
ber of slaves to be emancipated. 

In New- York, slavery was for the most part gradually 
abolished ; that is, the children, born after a certain day, 
became free, as they respectively reached the age of 
twenty-eight years ; and when the whole number of slaves 
were reduced to ten thousand, they were liberated in a 
single day. In New-York, the white population so greatly 
exceeded the black, that no jealousy was entertained of the 
free negroes, and no inconvenience experienced in uniting 
free and slave labor. But in those States, in which nearly 
all the laborers are slaves, where every free black is 
regarded as a nuisance and an incendiary, and where the 
planter would, on no consideration, permit him to labor in 
company with his slaves., much difficulty would necessarily 
attend a gradual relinquishment of slave labor. 

Suppose, in South-Carolina for instance, ten thousand 
slaves should be annually manumitted by law. This 
would certainly be gradual emancipation, as it would re- 
quire about forty years to free the whole number. Now, 
what would become of these ten thousand yearly dischar- 
ged from the plantations 1 Would their late masters be wil- 
ling to hire them, and turn them back into their cotton- 
fields 1 The supposition is extravagant. The planter 
would dread their influence on his remaining slaves, and 
these would certainly, and with great reason, be dissatisfied 
at seeing their late companions working for wages, while 
they themselves were denied any compensation for their 
toil. But if the ten thousand liberated slaves were not em- 
ployed, how could they obtain a livelihood, and how could 
the planters supply their place on the plantations? The 
idea, that by gradual emancipation, the slaves will become 
Jit for freedom, is visionary in the extreme. The house of 
17 



190 COMPENSATION. 

bondage is not the school in which men are to be trained 
for liberty. 

As then gradual emancipation, however desirable, if no 
other can be obtained, is so full of difficulty, and, in the 
opinion of slave holders, so dangerous that they have 
almost universally passed laws to prevent it, the only alter- 
native is immediate emancipation or continued slavery. 

It seems scarcely possible, that any conscientious man, 
after considering the results of immediate emancipation in 
St. Domingo, and Guadaloupe, in New- York, in Mexico, 
in South America, and in the West-Indies, should join in 
the popular clamor against it, as necessarily leading to 
massacre and rapine. No reason can be assigned, why 
the whites would not possess the same physical power 
to prevent or suppress outrage after, as before emancipa- 
tion ; but abundant reason may be given, why the blacks, 
when restored to their rights, and enjoying the protection 
and privileges of civil society, should be less disposed to 
destroy their benefactors and deliverers, than they are when 
smarting under cruelty and injustice, to destroy those 
whom they regard as their tyrants and oppressors. 

Who, with the knowledge, that no white man has 
ever been murdered in consequence of immediate eman- 
cipation, dares to declare in the presence of his Maker, 
that self-preservation forbids the abolition of slavery ? 

But we are met with the inquiry, how are the owners to 
be compensated for the loss of their property 1 This same 
objection was made to the suppression of the African slave 
trade. British merchants had invested large capitals in 
the traffick, and it was contended, that to prohibit the 
trade, was to violate the rights of property. All govern- 
ments possess the right to suppress practices injurious to 
society, and to abate nuisances.* The State of New- 
York abolished slavery, without compensating the slave 
holders. The same has been done in Mexico, and in va- 
rious instances in South America, and the compensation 

* "How little to be respected," exclaimed Lord Mnlgrave, late gover- 
nor of Jamaica, "is that rigid regard for the rights of property, which 
says a man shall do what he likes with his own, when his own is his 
fellow man." 



COMPENSATION. 191 

given by Parliament to the West-India proprietors, probably 
arose from the consideration, that the legislators who enact- 
ed the Abolition law, were not themselves personally affected 
by it; and in order, therefore, to avoid the reproach of in- 
dulging their benevolence at the expense of others, granted 
a pecuniary compensation to the owners of the emanci- 
pated slaves. 

So far as the public wealth is concerned, it would be 
enhanced, not diminished, by emancipation. In what 
does the property in slaves actually consist 1 Only in the 
product of their labor. Now Colonization, by removing the 
slaves, would utterly annihilate this property ; it would de- 
prive the South of the avails of two millions of laborers ! 
Emancipation, instead of removing these laborers, would 
stimulate their industry, improve their morals, quicken 
their intelligence, and convert a dangerous, idle, and 
vicious population into wholesome citizens. Were all 
the slaves in South-Carolina emancipated to-morrow, every 
branch of industry would derive new energy, and every 
species of property, an increased value, from the additional 
security which such a measure would give to society. All 
dread of insurrection would vanish, and one half of the 
population, who are now regarded as implacable foes, 
would be converted into useful friends. 

But it is objected, that the emancipated blacks will 
form a bad population. One would think, from this ob- 
jection, that the slaves now form a good population, and 
that they are to be rendered ignorant and immoral by free- 
dom. Unquestionably, the liberated slaves, like all other 
vicious and degraded people, will form a bad population ; 
but if they are such while in bondage, and must ever re- 
main such until liberated, then emancipation is the only 
process by which a bad, can be converted into a good popu- 
lation. As soon as they are free, they will be accessible to 
education and religious instruction, and all those various 
motives which operate as a wholesome restraint on the evil 
passions of our nature. It would be most unjust to estimate 
the future character of the emancipated slaves, supposing 
slavery to be immediately abolished, by the present charac- 
ter of the free negroes. These last, in the slave States, 
are a hated and persecuted race. They are kept not only 



192 CONSEQUENCES OF EMANCIPATION. 

in ignorance, but in idleness. The planters will not em- 
ploy them, for fear they will contaminate the slaves ; and 
the whole legislation of the Southern States, towards this 
people, is to degrade and brutify them. But these wicked 
efforts are the results of slavery, and would cease with it. 
Were slavery abolished, then it would be the obvious inte- 
rest of the South to improve the black population, and the 
causes which necessarily render the free blacks vicious, 
would no longer operate. The same remark applies, 
although with less force, to the free blacks of the North. 
Colonization and slavery, have both had their influence in 
keeping alive, and aggravating the prejudices against color, 
and these prejudices have led to that system of persecution 
and oppression to which the free blacks here are subjected. 

And now what injury or loss would the planter sustain, 
by the emancipation of his slaves ? As a trader in human 
flesh, his vocation would, indeed, be gone, but as the culti- 
vator of the soil, his profits would be undiminished. The 
number of laborers would be as great as before ; and they 
would still be dependent on labor for their support. They 
now cost their owner their food and clothing, and their 
maintenance in sickness, in youth, and in old age ; the ex- 
pense also of the idle and worthless, is as great, as that of the 
good. Their cost as free laborers would be but little 
more than at present, while their characters would be im- 
proved, and the employer could select such laborers as his 
occasions required. The laborers finding their wages, and 
of course their comforts depending on their good conduct, 
would be prompted to industry and sobriety; and having 
nothing to gain by insurrection, and feeling no injuries 
to avenge, all malignant designs against their employers 
would be laid aside, and they would soon make such ad- 
vances in intelligence and morality, as would contribute no 
less to the good order and peace of society, than to their 
own happiness. 

Abolitionists are constantly called on for a plan of eman- 
cipation. They have little encouragement to respond to 
the call. If they propose the simple plan of proclaim- 
ing by act of the State Legislatures, the immediate and 
unqualified abolition of slavery, they are denounced as 
reckless incendiaries. If they intimate, that abolition does 



MODES OF EMANCIPATION. 193 

not necessarily inhibit all compulsory labor, and point to 
the rural code of St. Domingo and the apprentice system of 
the West-Indies ; they are reproached with wishing to sub- 
stitute one kind of slavery for another. But, in truth, they 
are under no obligation of duty or policy to propose any 
specific plan. No Temperance Society has felt itself 
bound, because it pronounced the traffick in ardent spirits 
to be sinful, to furnish venders with plans for employing 
their capitals in other occupations. 

The details of emancipation, and the various legal pro- 
visions proper to render it safe and convenient, are not 
prescribed by the great principles of justice and religion, 
but by considerations of local policy. It is not probable, 
that if all the Southern Legislatures were sincerely anxious 
to abolish slavery, any two of them would do it in precisely 
the same manner, and under the same regulations. We 
have seen one plan pursued in St. Domingo, another in 
Bermuda and Antigua, a third in the other British West- 
Indies, and still different plans in South America. 

Of all these plans, that adopted in Mexico, Bermuda, 
and Antigua, of immediate, total, and unqualified emanci- 
pation, will, there is reason to believe, be found in all 
cases the most safe and expedient. 

This plan removes from the slave all cause for discon- 
tent. He is free, and his own master, and he can ask for 
no more. Yet he is, in fact, for a time, absolutely depen- 
dent on his late owner. He can look to no other person 
for food to eat, clothes to put on, or house to shelter him. 
His first wish, therefore is, to remain where he is, and he 
receives as a favor, permission to labor in the service of him 
whom the day before he regarded as his oppressor. But 
labor is no longer the badge of his servitude, and the con- 
summation of his misery : it is the evidence of his liberty, 
for it is voluntary. For the first time in his life, he is a 
party to a contract. He negociates with his late master, 
and returns to the scene of his former toil, and the scene 
of his stripes and his tears, with a joyful heart, to labor for 
himself. The wages he has agreed to accept, will, in fact, 
be little more than the value of his maintenance ; for it is not 
to be expected, that in a treaty with his employer, his diplo- 
macy will gain for him any signal advantages; but still there 

17* 



194 DANGER OF SLAVERY, 

will be a charm in the very name of wages, which will make 
the pittance he receives, appear a treasure in his eyes. 
Thus will the transition from slave to free labor be effected 
instantaneously, and with scarcely any perceptible interrup- 
tion of the ordinary pursuits of life. In the course of time, 
the value of negro labor, like all other vendible commodi- 
ties, will be regulated by the supply and demand ; and 
justice be done both to the planter and his laborers. The 
very consciousness, moreover, that justice is done to both 
parties, will remove their mutual suspicions and animosi- 
ties, and substitute in their place, feelings of kindness and 
confidence. No white man in Antigua, surrounded as he 
is by blacks, now dreams of insurrection, or fears the mid- 
night assassin. Can as much be said of our Southern 
planters? 



CHAPTER XI. 

Danger of continued Slavery. 

While slave holders and Colon izationists delight to 
expatiate on the danger of immediate emancipation, and to 
represent its advocates as reckless incendiaries, ready to 
deluge the country in blood, they seem scarcely conscious 
that any danger is to be apprehended from slavery itself. 
Yet the whole history of slavery is a history of the strug- 
gles of the oppressed to recover their liberty. The Ro- 
mans had their servile wars, in one of which forty thousand 
slaves were embodied in arms — Italy ravaged, and Rome 
herself menaced. 

A European writer remarks : " The formidable rebel- 
lion of the Jamaica slaves, in 1762, is well known ; and in 
almost every island in the Archipelago, have repeated in- 
surrections broken out ; sometimes the result of plans laid 
with the utmost secrecy, and very widely extended, always 
accompanied by the horrors of African warfare." 

The destruction of property in Jamaica, in the in- 
surrection of 1832, was estimated by the Legislature at 



DANGER OF SLAVER**. 195 

^£1, 154,583. Any commotion of the emancipated slaves, that 
should cost the island one-hundredth part of this sum, 
would be hailed both there and here, as demonstrative of 
the folly and hazard of emancipation. 

And have we not in our own country, had melancholy, 
heart-rending proofs of the danger .of slavery ? 

In 1712, and 1741, negro insurrections occurred in 
New- York, and we may judge of the alarm they excited, by 
the shocking means used to prevent their recurrence. Of 
the leaders of the last insurrection, thirteen were burned 
alive, eighteen hung, and eighty transported. In the 
single State of South-Carolina, there have been no less 
than seven insurrections designed or executed. In 1711, 
the House of Assembly complained of certain fugitive 
slaves, who " keep out armed, and robbing and plundering 
houses and plantations, and putting the inhabitants of this 
province in great fear and terror." In 1730, an open re- 
bellion occurred, in which the negroes were actually armed 
and embodied. In 1739, there were no less than three 
rebellions, as appears from a petition from the Council and 
Assembly to the king, in which they complain of an " in- 
surrection of our slaves, in which many of the inhabitants 
were murdered in a barbarous and cruel manner ;. and that 
was no sooner quelled, than another projected in Charles- 
ton, and a third lately in the very heart of the settlements, 
but happily discovered time enough to be prevented." In 
1816, there was a conspiracy of the slaves in Camden and 
its vicinity, " the professed design of which was to murder 
all the whites and free themselves." The conspiracy in 
Charleston in 1822, and the sacrifice of human life to which 
it led, are well known. But in no instance, has the dan- 
ger of slavery been so vividly illustrated, as in the tragedy 
of Southampton. 

A fanatic slave conceived, from some supposed signs in 
the heavens, or peculiarity in the weather, that he was 
called by God to destroy the whites. He communicated 
his commission to five other slaves, who engaged to aid 
him in executing it. The conspirators agreed to meet at a 
certain place, on the night of the 21st August, 1831. 
They assembled at the appointed hour, and the leader, 
Nat Turner, beheld with surprise, a sixth man, who had 
not been invited by him to join in the enterprise, but who 



19G DANGER OF SLAVERY. 

had learned from another source, the cause of the meeting ; 
and on inquiring for what purpose he had come, received the 
remarkable answer : " My life is worth no more than that 
of others, and my liberty is as dear to me." With these 
six associates, Turner commenced the work of destruction. 
By sunrise, the number of murderers was swelled to four- 
teen, and by ten o'clock the same morning, to forty ! 

From the testimony given on the trial of Turner, and 
which has been published, it appears, that there was no 
previous concert, except between Turner and his six ori- 
ginal associates, and that no white or free colored man was 
privy to their design. 

The dates we have given of the various insurrections, 
prove conclusively, that they were in no degree connected 
with discussions respecting Abolition, and at the time of 
the Southampton massacre, there was no Anti-Slavery Soci- 
ety in the United States advocating immediate emancipa- 
tion. 

Abolitionists have been often charged with a desire to 
foment insurrections ; but the charge is wholly gratuitous, 
and no proof whatever of such sublimated wickedness has 
ever been adduced against them. On the contrary, their 
characters, professions and conduct repel the calumny. 
The whole history of Abolition shows, that its only tendency 
is to ensure peace and safety. 

We have brought facts to establish the danger of sla- 
very ; let us now attend to the confessions of slave holders 
to the same point. A South-Carolina writer, while urging 
the necessity of a stricter police over the slaves, thus 
describes them : 

" Let it never be forgotten, that our negroes are truly 
the Jacobins of the country ; that they are the anarchists, 
and the domestic enemy ; the common enemy of civilized 

SOCIETY, AND THE BARBARIANS WHO WOULD, IF THEY 
COULD, BECOME THE DESTROYERS OF OUR RACE."* 

The Southern Religious Telegraph says : 

" Hatred to the whites, with the exception in some 

cases of attachment to the person and family of the master, 

is nearly universal among the black population. W T e have 

then a foe cherished in our very bosoms — a foe willing 

*A refutation of the calumnies inculcated against the Southern and 
Western States.— Charleston, 1822. 



DANGER OF SLAVERY. 197 

to draw our life-blood, whenever the opportunity is 
offered, and, in the mean time, intent on doing us all the 
mischief in his power." 

Now, be it recollected, that these " destroyers of our 
race," these foes, willing " to draw the life-blood" of the 
whites, are rapidly advancing to an immense numerical 
majority. And on what grounds do the whites rest their 
hope of security from these Jacobins, and anarchists — on 
equal laws, the diffusion of education, and the influence 
of religion? Let Governor Haynes of South-Carolina, 
answer the question. 

" A state of military preparation, must always 
be with us a state of perfect domestic security. A pro- 
found peace, and consequent apathy, may expose us to the 
danger of domestic insurrection." Message to the Legisla- 
ture, 1833. 

Thus, profound peace, which is a blessing to all other 
people, will be a curse to the slave holders, and they are to 
hold all that is dear to them by the tenure of military pre- 
paration I 

Is it, we ask, possible, for any nation to have a worse 
population than that described in the preceding extracts, 
or to be doomed to a more deplorable fate, than that 
of perpetual military preparation? 

We have now seen, what are the religious and political 
principles, and what are the historical facts which lead the 
American Anti-Slavery Society to recommend immediate 
emancipation to their Southern brethren. 

But it is demanded, with an air of supercilious triumph, 
what have Northern men to do with slavery, and what 
right have they to interfere with the domestic institutions 
of the South ? And is this question addressed to the fol- 
lowers of him who commanded his disciples to " go into 
all the world, and to preach the Gospel to every creature ?" 
As well might it be asked of the Christians of America, 
what they have to do with the religion of Brahma, — what 
right they have to interfere to rescue the widow from the 
burning pile, or the devotee from the wheels of Juggernavt ? 
Christians are no less bound by the injunction to " do good 
unto all men," to endeavor, by lawful means, to break the 
fetters of the slave, than to deliver the victim of Pagan 



196 CONSEQUENCES OF 

superstition. The obligation is imperative, and they who 
duly respect its authority, will not be deterred by violence 
or denunciation from obeying its monitions. The same 
moral sense which has led Abolitionists to oppose slavery, 
will, we trust, forever lead them to repudiate in their prac- 
tice the detestable doctrine, that the end sanctifies the 
means, and restrain them from doing evil that good may 
come. The means they employ, except in relation to 
slavery under the authority of Congress, are wholly confined 
to arguments addressed to the conscience and understand- 
ing; and intended only to excite the voluntary action of 
the masters. With them, and with them alone, rests the 
power of deciding on the course they will pursue. But let 
them ponder well the consequences to themselves and their 
posterity, of their momentous decision. 

By rejecting Abolition, they reject all the rich and va- 
ried blessings in morals, in security, in political power and 
wealth, which it offers to their acceptance. And what do 
they retain, — the licentiousness, cruelty, and injustice; the 
depression of enterprise, the wasting of strength, the fear- 
ful forebodings, the hourly jeopardy, the frowns of public 
opinion, and the reproaches of conscience, which are and 
must be the inseparable attendants on slavery. Before they 
refuse to retreat from the volcano on which they are stand- 
ing, let them look into the terrific crater which yawns be- 
neath them. 

If slavery is to be perpetual, it will be well to estimate, 
not only the number of slaves with which our southern 
country is to be peopled, but also the ratio they are to bear 
to their masters. It must be recollected, that all those 
moral checks on population which arise from morality, the 
refinements of civilized life, and the difficulty of sustaining 
a family, are wanting to the slave. Hence there is always 
a tendency to a far more rapid multiplication in a slave 
than a free population. Certain circumstances may indeed 
check this tendency, but experience proves, that in this 
country, they exist to a very slight exent, if at all. Our 
slarres are increasing in a constantly accelerated ratio. 
In the ten years, from 1840 to 1850, judging from the 
result of the last census, the increase will be 1,049,275, a 
number greater than all the slaves just liberated in tho 



CONTINUED SLAVERY. 199 

West-Indies ! The next ten years, a still greater number 
will be added, and so on indefinitely. In the mean time, 
new and powerful checks will be operating to retard the 
progress of the white population. The evils attendant on 
slavery, will offer strong inducements to the young and in- 
digent to forsake the land of their fathers, and to seek a 
safer home, and a wider field for enterprise. Virginia 
affords a striking illustration of this remark. The domes- 
tic slave trade annually relieves that State of more than six 
thousand slaves, and yet, notwithstanding this claim, they 
continue to increase. 

In 1830, the colored population in the counties east of 
the Blue-ridge, exceeded the white by 81,078, whereas 
forty years before, in the same counties, the whites had a 
majority of 25,098 ! 

The number of slaves must at length reach the point 
of profitable employment, after which, each additional one 
becomes an incumbrance. Soon after this point is reached, 
the traffick in slaves must cease, and the owners will be 
unable to dispose of their superfluous hands. The conse- 
quence will be, the gradual impoverishment of the propri- 
etors. As the slaves increase in number, and diminish in 
value, their masters will gradually become less interested 
in their welfare, and more apprehensive of their physical 
strength. Fear is a cruel passion, and especially as it 
silences the remonstrances of conscience, by the plea of 
self-preservation. As the danger becomes mo: 3 pressing, 
the precautions of the master will become more and more 
rigorous: every slave being regarded and trusted as an 
enemy, wili, in fact, become one, and every increase of 
cruelty, will but hasten the final catastrophe. 

In the mean time, slavery will have ceased in every other 
part of the civilized world. In Brazil, it will probably 
receive its death blow, in the first popular revolution. In 
the Danish Islands, it will expire in two years ; and in the 
French and Spanish colonies, it cannot long survive. * 

♦The voluntary manumissions in the French colonies from 1st 
January, 1(331, to_lst|June, 1833. were 21,932. Since the late Abolition 
Act of Great Britain, an Anti-Slavery Society has been organized in 
Paris, with the Due de Broglie at its head. It is said to have "derived its 
existence in the very bosom of the Chamber of Deputies/' 



200 PUBLIC OPINION. 

And when this loathsome leprosy shall cling only to the 
republicans of our Southern and Western States, in what 
light will they, must they, be regarded by the rest of the 
human race? This is an age, in which public opinion has 
snatched the sceptre from kings and senates, and reigns an 
imperious and absolute despot. She may indeed be influ- 
enced, but not resisted. She called for the abolition of the 
African slave trade, and the traffickers in human flesh, for 
centuries encouraged and protected by law, became a pro- 
scribed race. She is now calling for the freedom of the 
slave, and. his shackles are falling from him. Emancipa- 
tion will soon become the common cause of Christendom, 
as the abolition of the slave trade was a few year since. 

In 1822, the House of Representatives requested the 
President to enter into negociations with the several mara- 
time powers, for the effectual suppression of the slave trade 
and its ultimate denunciation as piracy, and negociations 
were accordingly opened on this subject with Great Britain, 
Spain, Portugal,, Russia, France, Netherlands, Buenos 
Ayres, and Colombia. 

In 1821, Portugal persisting in the traffick, the British 
House of Commons called upon the king, to endeavor by 
negociation, to prevail on the powers of Europe to exclude 
from their ports the pro dace of the Portugese colonies. Por- 
tugal yielded, and the trade has been renounced by every 
Christian nation in Europe and America. And may not 
the same, or similar means, be adopted by other nations to 
put an end to American slavery ? It is by no means im- 
probable, that, before many years elapse, laws will be 
passed, and treaties made, for excluding the products of 
slave labor from Europe.* 

So long ago as 1800, Mr. Windham, in the House of 
Commons, " did not hesitate to say, that when the proper 
time arrived and the consent of other powers could be ob- 
tained for its abolition, slavery ought not to be suffered to 
exist among the institutions of any civilized State." 

The emperor of Austria has issued a decree, declar- 

* A statement has recently been laid before the British Parliament, of 
the amount of such produce of American slave labor imported into 
Great Britain, as enters into competition with the productions of the 
West- In dies. 



PUBLIC OPINION. 201 

ing — "Every man, by the right of nature, sanctioned by 
reason, must be considered a free person. Every slave 
becomes free from the moment he touches the Austrian 
soil, or an Austrian ship." 

The Edinburgh Review insists, that " the existence of 
slavery in America, is an atrocious crime, with which no 
means can be kept." 

Mr. Buckingham, member of Parliament, lately as- 
serted at a public meeting : 

"The greater proportion of the people of England, 
demand not merely emancipation, but the immediate eman- 
cipation of the slaves, in whatever quarter of the world they 
may be found." 

Daniel O'Connell, shortly before the abolition of slavery 
in the British dominions, declared in public : 

" The West-Indies will be obliged to grant emancipa- 
tion, and then we will turn to America, and to every part 
of Europe, and require emancipation." 

A Society has just been formed in England, entitled, 
" the British and Foreign Society for the universal abolition 
of negro slavery and the slave trade." 

Our pride may revolt at the idea of foreign interference, 
but it will be the interference not of force, but of public 
opinion, against which our fleets and armies will be of no 
avail. 

We cannot compel other countries to buy our cotton 
and sugar ; or to admit our citizens from the South, when 
they visit Europe, to the usual courtesies of social inter- 
course. " When an American comes into society," said 
Daniel O'Connell, in a numerous assembly, " he will be 
asked, ' Are you one of the thieves, or are you an honest 
man? If you are an honest man, then you have given liberty 
to your slaves; if you are among the thieves, the sooner you 
take the outside of the house the better.' " 

The very coarseness of this invective, in the mouth of 
the great agitator, indicates the temper of the British popu- 
lace on this subject ; a temper which, fostered as it is by 
the progress of liberal principles, will, in time, become 
the temper of all Europe; and, indeed, of all the world. 
While the slave holders are suffering, without sympathy 
and without redress, from the harrassing influence of 

18 



202 CONCLUSION. 

this temper, their slaves will be multiplying with a fear- 
ful rapidity, and becoming each day more conscious of 
their own strength ; and unless their fetters are loosened, 
they will inevitably be burst. 

Our Southern brethren are the masters of their own 
destiny : may a gracious God lead them to know the 
things which belong to their peace, before they be forever 
hidden from their eyes. 



THE END. 



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